


Reboot

by QuoteMyFoot



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Alternate Universe - Wreck-It Ralph Fusion, Angst, Friendship, Gen, I can't believe that tag already existed, Please love him anyway, Zym is functionally an OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 04:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17842085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuoteMyFoot/pseuds/QuoteMyFoot
Summary: The newest game in the arcade, The Dragon Prince, has been taking all the attention away from Rayla's glitchy game, The King's Champions, so she's surprised to find herself becoming fast friends with Dragon Prince's Callum, Ezran, and Zym. But when a tragic death occurs, Rayla will have to push herself to her limits if she wants to keep the friends she has left safe.A Wreck-It Ralph fusion/AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to my friend [blueandie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueandie/pseuds/blueandie) for her hard work betaing this piece! She even watched the show so she could help me! Any errors that are left are mine and I'd appreciate if you could point them out, but this story was complete before series 2 was released and I've only added a handful of references into the fic.

"Places, everyone!" Harrow called. "We're going live in five minutes!"

Rayla sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I don't know why we bother," she muttered. "It's not like anyone is going to choose _our_ game, anyway."

Runaan nudged her gently, making Rayla sit up straighter and draw her blades into her hands. "You never know what each day will bring."

It was a nice thought, but since _The King's Champions_ had only had three players this week, Rayla could take a pretty good guess as to how this day would go, too. Still, Runaan meant well. She whacked a branch with one of her swords out of boredom. The tree branch reset after every hit. The environments were supposed to take damage from the player characters' weapons, but a glitch in the code somewhere meant that the damage only lasted a few seconds.

The sounds of the arcade's customers began to filter into their box, large shadows passing in front of the window screen as people walked by their game… like always.

Rayla's entire arm shuddered as her sword bit deep into the tree, leaving a scar of pale wood that disappeared with a burst of static a second after she pulled her sword out.

They were going to have the plug pulled on their game soon, she was sure of it.

_Thwack._

It was just a matter of time. Their game had been rushed to release and full of glitches when it came out, of which the lack of semi-permanent environment damage was just a small and characterful piece, but they still used to get _some_ players every day. Enough to keep them ticking over. She wasn't allowed to go to Tapper's like the others, so she'd heard the proprietor muttering away to himself about the numbers.

_Thwack._

That had all changed when the studio who built their game released another, _The Dragon Prince._ After _The King's Champions_ was a flop, the studio had taken more care with their next game. There was a real buzz about it, even amongst the other characters in the arcade. From what Rayla heard, the combat was smoother, there were 'inventive' puzzle sections, and there was even a cute little dragon mascot who guided the player character through each level, giving them tips and sometimes extra lives.

Meanwhile, _Champions_ was slow to respond to input, making the combat extremely difficult, and worst of all...

_Thwa—_

Suddenly, the tree branch shimmered and Rayla's blade passed right through it for a split-second, just long enough for it to get stuck in the wood when the branch reappeared.

"Dammit!" Rayla snapped.

Runaan shushed her, but their little assassin's grove was way in the back; nobody would hear them.

 _Worst of all,_ Rayla thought bitterly, shuffling away from the weapon and waiting for it to respawn at her side, _we're the glitchiest piece of crap out there._

* * *

Nobody played the game that day. Rayla's brush with the glitchy tree was the most exciting thing that had happened for weeks.

"There was a new game introduced to the arcade today," Runaan said, in a moment of forced cheer. "It's probably—"

"I think we all know that isn't true," Viren interrupted gently. He had an advisor position within the game, delivering the tutorial to the players, and he seemed to have taken that role in their group as well. Rayla liked him; he was practical. "We've been losing players since _The Dragon Prince_ released."

Harrow sighed. "It's as you say, but what is there to be done?"

Rayla wondered if she could replicate the branch glitch if she hit it hard enough. Was it all the tree branches, or just that one? It was supposed to break in a cutscene, so maybe that was why...

"We could try seeking assistance from the other games," Viren suggested. "A temporary outage in _The Dragon Prince,_ for example, or _Sugar Rush—"_

Runaan's ears twitched. "You're not suggesting…?"

"Well, why not?" Viren gestured towards the exit to the main power box. "We're all part of a community here. The more popular games wouldn't suffer if they were offline for one or two days."

"I don't know if that would solve the problem," Runaan said.

Rayla stood up, tucking her swords behind her back. "Well, I say it can't hurt to try! It would at least bring _some_ excitement."

Harrow rubbed his chin, frowning. He left the crown off when they weren't on duty, since he wasn't really a king—but they all looked up to him anyway.

"Think about it, Harrow," Viren pleaded. "We still have things to offer the players! The depth of the story and lore in _The King's Champions_ is unmatched. They just need a chance to realise it, without the distractions of these newer… characters."

"It's very… unorthodox," Harrow said carefully. "But—well, I suppose I can put the idea forward at a grid hall meeting. There are a few other underplayed games that would benefit too."

Viren nodded, satisfied.

"In the meantime," Harrow continued, "we should relax! Have some fun!"

Rayla folded her arms. Sure. _Fun._ Even though she wasn't allowed to visit most of the games unsupervised. She wasn't _actually_ younger than the others! She'd just been programmed with a little less maturity. But her stats were much better than everyone else's so it wasn't like she couldn't take care of herself!

" _Rayla,_ " Runaan said sharply, probably reading her expression. "I know it's frustrating, but things aren't always safe for a character of your age. There's still plenty to do!"

"...Sure," she replied. She made an attempt to smile. It wasn't like anything better was going to happen by staying home. "I'll see who's free."

Maybe she could spar with Zangief again – that was always fun!

* * *

Out in the power box, things were busy as usual. Rayla got off the train and waved everyone else off. She started to wander around, but it didn't look like Zangief or anyone were there today. Folding her arms and tapping her feet impatiently, she scanned the crowds for anybody interesting.

Then something clamped onto her leg.

Rayla shrieked and kicked out, which sent a glowing yellow blur sailing into one of the caution signs. It hit the sign with a loud _thump,_ sliding down and ending up in a heap of squat, ugly-looking… thing.

"Ahh! Be careful with Bait!" a voice called. "We're outside the game, he could die for real!"

Rayla was shoved aside as a young character with dark skin and hair ran to pick up the ugly bait. "He shouldn't have surprised me!" she retorted.

" _...Woah,"_ he said suddenly. "Your accent!"

Rayla scowled. "What about it?"

But he only grinned. "You're from _The King's Champions!_ We share lore with you! That's so cool!"

"Ezran!" another strange voice yelled before Rayla could answer. Another character, about her age with pale skin and brown hair, stumbled towards them, then bent over wheezing. "Oof, don't make me run like that. Sorry if he was bothering you."

Rayla hadn't known there were any characters close to her own age in here. "It's… fine," she said. "What game are you guys from, again?"

" _The Dragon Prince._ I'm Callum." He stuck out a hand to shake.

Rayla stared at it. How stupid of her; of _course_ he was from _The Dragon Prince._ The game that was taking away what meagre attention they'd already possessed.

After several moments, Callum withdrew his hand. "Oookay. Uh. Maybe a wave instead?"

"Can we go inside your game?" The other one—Ezran—said, clutching the ugly bait to his chest.

"Why?" Rayla snapped. "So you can laugh at how bad it works?"

"Wait, you're from _The King's Champions?_ " Callum's laugh was strangely high-pitched as he turned to stare at Ezran with wide eyes. "That's… nice?"

Ezran looked between them with a frown. "Why are you acting weird? I just want to see the castle and the woods. We don't have those, you know, they're only in our backstories."

"What are you talking about?" Rayla demanded.

"I told you! We share lore!" The bait in Ezran's arms started to glow an alarmingly eye-blinding shade of yellow. "Our game is pretty much a sequel to yours. Didn't you know?"

"How would I?" Rayla said bitterly. "It's not like we get updates. Or else they might've fixed all our glitches."

Ezran's little face fell and even the ugly thing stopped glowing and turned blue, which made her feel bad for being so crabby.

Callum jumped in—literally, he jumped in front of Ezran's sad face in a starfish-like pose. "Well… we could show you! It's kind of a sequel to what you guys are doing anyway so uh… it would make sense, right?"

Rayla softened a bit. They were obviously trying to be friendly. But… "It doesn't really matter. I'm just one of the bad guys. Just a bloodthirsty—"

" _No!"_ Ezran shouted, which startled Callum so badly that he unbalanced from his starfish position and fell over.

Rayla peered down at him. "Are you… okay?"

Callum sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't worry! This happens a lot."

Very reassuring.

"You should be more careful when we're not in the game," Ezran said, hiding behind his weird pet.

"I just bumped my head, Ez! Geez..." Callum pulled a face at Rayla. "I apologise for him. He's programmed with abandonment issues."

"So are you," Ezran said in a loud whisper.

Rayla hid a smile behind her hand, but it didn't go unnoticed. Callum pointed a finger at her and grinned. "Aha, we got you! I knew we would eventually!"

She snorted and then she knew the gig was up.

"And you're not just a bad guy! The moonshadow elves are really cool, ans there's lots of backstory I found in the dummied out codex bonus levels..." Ezran shook himself and the far away look in his eyes was replaced with determination. "Come on, I have to show you!"

Rayla smiled and let herself relax. It wasn't their fault _The King's Champions_ didn't do so well these days, after all. "Alright then. Show me this 'sequel' of yours."

"And then castle after?" Ezran said hopefully. The ugly thing started to glow slightly as well.

Rayla didn't have the heart to say no.

* * *

_The Dragon Prince_ was… not that much different to Rayla's game, actually. The trees looked the same and when she squinted at them, even the texture looked more or less identical. Then again, she'd heard players say that _The King's Champions_ had obviously spent more time on graphics than gameplay.

If they were the same as _her_ trees, that meant they would also be really fun to climb!

Rayla grinned and leapt for one of the lower branches with her swords drawn as hooks. Using them to spin around the branch, she launched herself upwards, kicking off another tree limb on the way, before she stood on one of the highest points of the tree.

Up there, she could see the landscape of the game spread out before her. It seemed extensive, nothing like the hodge-podge group of settings that they used for _The King's Champions._ Fields and forest and rivers spread out before her all the way to the horizon, tiny squares of colour. She guessed they must be different stages with their own colour theme.

"It's nice up here," she called down to Callum and Ezran. "Why don't you—"

"Aha!"

With a flick of her wrist, Rayla's blades straightened and became two short swords, which she held in a defensive cross position as she whirled around, prepared to move in an instant.

The small dragon didn't seem bothered by having Rayla's swords in its face. "Oh, your reflexes are very good! They should've made you a playable character!"

"Zym!" Callum shouted from below. "She's visiting from _The King's Champions!_ "

"Well, obviously," the dragon, Zym, said. He curled his tail around him and sat up proudly like a cat.

Rayla decided it was safe to put her swords away. "So… Zym?"

He bobbed his head. "They can't climb up this high, you know."

She glanced down to Callum and Ezran, who were discussing something. "I could give them a wee hand. I'm stronger than I look."

"No, they literally can't climb up." Zym snorted and a puff of smoke flew out of his nostrils. "They put a block in the coding, I guess so players couldn't come up with creative solutions or accidentally wander into a different stage." His tail wagged suddenly. _Is he a dragon or a dog?_ "But now I've got someone I can share the treetops with! Isn't it nice to be up high?"

"Sure," Rayla said. But she looked down at Ezran and Callum, still stuck on the ground. She supposed there were advantages to being in a poorly-coded game. It was hard to railroad her into only doing what she was supposed to.

It was easy enough to hop down through the branches—they sprang up under her feet, allowing her to spin into a graceful landing.

"...Wow," Ezran said. "That's really neat!"

"Your movement is really fluid," Callum said thoughtfully.

Ezran shook his head at Callum. "Don't make it weird just because she's a girl."

" _What—?_ I was not! It's a comment on the programming! The _design."_

Rayla watched them in bemusement as they continued to bicker and Zym alighted next to her. "We're a puzzle platformer," he explained, "so we don't need any complex movements like that. Although..." He fluttered his wings and raised his chin a little higher. "My animation is top-notch, if I do say so myself."

"Oh, I wanted to ask, what is it like up there?" Ezran asked suddenly, totally abandoning his conversation with Callum. He gave Ezran a look of dismay behind his back. "Zym says it's really nice, but I'm not sure if he's just trying to show off that he can fly."

Zym drew his head right back and smoke started to pour out of his nostrils. The effect wasn't that intimidating; he looked more like a novelty kettle than a scary dragon. " _Excuse me?"_

"It's pretty cool," Rayla said. "Your game is enormous."

Ezran nodded his head. "Oh. Well, I guess I'll go fix the block then!"

He turned and ran into the bushes without any further comment.

"Wait, Ez! No!" Callum shouted, running after him.

Zym snorted and took to the air. "He's going to get us all in trouble."

Rayla was totally clueless, but it seemed a bad idea to linger about on her own in a strange game, so she ran after them, following Zym's pale blue underbelly. She caught him to Callum within a minute – he really wasn't a very good runner.

"What's he talking about?" she said to Callum. "'Fixing the block'?"

"How do you—" Callum gulped down air like he was drowning. "—manage to—talk… and run..."

He was _really_ bad at running. "Nevermind. I'll just catch up and ask."

"No, wait—!"

Rayla barely heard him as she pulled away with long, loping strides. "What? Why?" she yelled over her shoulder.

Suddenly her foot met empty air. She put her hands out to break her fall or grab something, but there was only a pit with smooth sides and a vicious-looking purple acid at the bottom. Rayla shrieked and tried to fumble for her swords, but there was no time, and—

And her arm was nearly wrenched out of the socket as something grabbed it, bringing her to a sudden, painful stop.

Wind whistled through her hair as she looked up and saw Zym, flapping his wings rapidly to stay airborne. Rayla's stomach turned over.

She heard Callum's voice as though from a great distance away, even though she could see his hand as it moved through the air, forming a strange symbol in blue. "Hang on, I'm coming!"

He touched his hands to the symbol and the earth flowed like a river, forming a bridge across the gap. Callum dashed across as it was moving, throwing himself flat. His hand reached down, open wide, and it seemed to Rayla that she could see the individual circles on the pads of his fingers.

Her hair flew in front of her face, obscuring her vision, as Zym groaned and beat his wings even harder. She rose higher in the air. She couldn't see Callum's hand, but she knew it would be—

A chilly hand clasped hold of her wrist. Another grabbed her upper arm, near her elbow.

— _there_.

Callum heaved and Rayla swung her leg up, managing to hook it over the side of the earth bridge. Her shoulder was screaming and she was suddenly aware of tears streaming down her cheeks, but she was built to be tougher than this. She gritted her teeth and, with Callum's help, hauled herself over the edge.

Rayla collapsed onto her back, panting and sweating, staring up at the perfect blue sky.

"Uh, sorry," Callum said. His voice shook a little. "I should've told you about the hazards."

"You're lucky I was here!" Zym added, almost angry, but he poked at her with his nose and made a high-pitched squeaking noise until she patted his head.

Rayla sat up and immediately regretted it as her vision went black for a moment. "I... am definitely not doing that again."

Callum cracked a small smile, eyeing her arm. "Good. Because you're really heavy and I don't know if _I_ could do that again."

"It's all my strength stat," Rayla said, and he actually laughed.

Zym tickled her ear by sniffing it, but then hopped back a few steps, apparently satisfied. "We should get you home."

"But what about Ezran?" Rayla said. Callum pulled a face. "Where did he run off to?"

Callum and Zym shared a look.

"...Will you promise not to tell anyone?" Callum asked quietly.

"You just saved my life, so—" Rayla shrugged as best she could with one working shoulder. "Whatever you want."

"Pinky promise?"

Rayla stared at Callum's extended little finger. On his right hand. To match her _right_ shoulder. That was currently not working.

She pointedly raised her other hand and he laughed nervously, swapping hands. "I forgot. Sorry."

They pinky-promised. Rayla had never pinky promised anything before. She stared at her little finger. It was… underwhelming.

"...Ezran has gone to mess with the game's code," Zym said.

"What?!" Rayla scrambled to her feet. "But—then we have to stop him—"

Callum waved his hands at her frantically, shaking his head. "Nonono! It's okay! He's not… going Turbo or anything. He just likes to, uh… tweak the code… a bit… I'm not making this sound better am I?"

Rayla shook her head.

"Ezran is a little weird, but he means well." Zym bobbed his head. "In his character profile he has a gift for understanding animals, and for some reason, that means he has a natural talent for understanding the code, as well."

"—Please don't tell anyone nobody else knows," Callum jumped in to say. Literally jumped in; he was now standing a few inches from her face.

She scowled at him.

He took a step back sharpish. "Grouchy elf warrior's personal space. Yep. Got it."

"I still want to see what's going on," Rayla decided. "Make sure he's not going to blow up the arcade or anything."

Callum shrank a little. "C-Can he do that?" He turned to Zym. "He can't do that. Right?"

Zym sighed, which turned into a cough on a tiny puff of smoke. "Let's just go find Ezran," he said.

* * *

Zym led the way this time, taking Rayla around the hazards. Callum had to use his magic to make a few more bridges or clear some other hazards.

"How does Ezran get to this place?" she asked. "He can't do this magic stuff, right?"

"Ah, no. That's all me!" Callum scratched the back of his head. "Well, he just charges through? I think sometimes he just drops into a pit or something and respawns on the other side."

Rayla stared at him. "You mean he just… dives into the acid?"

"It doesn't actually hurt for us, we just kinda turn purple."

"It's to be kid friendly," Zym added sagely.

"...And you can't die inside your own game, so why not, I guess?" Callum finally caught on that Rayla was unimpressed, and he sighed. "Yeah, Ez is a bit weird."

Eventually, they came to a set of bushes which looked blocky and unreal compared to the others. Rayla squinted at it. Maybe it was the uncomfortable thought of Ezran messing with the code, but Rayla was pretty sure that she could make out the individual ones and zeros.

Callum pulled the bushes aside and revealed a black space that seemed to have no walls or floors. Ezran was sitting cross-legged on the floor, the ugly bait sat on top of his head and glowing brightly. Words and numbers streamed past his face with seemingly no reason or logic, but he suddenly reached out to touch one and it popped out of the stream and bloomed into a web of numbers and words.

It was meaningless to Rayla, but Ezran slumped, disappointed. He pushed the bit of code away and it disappeared back into the stream. "I can't remove the block without taking away all the stage boundaries and messing up the game." He pouted. "That's dumb."

"Oh. So no tree climbing?" Callum said.

Ezran shook his head.

Callum suddenly turned to her and waved his hand at Ezran and Bait. "See? I told you he's not going Turbo or anything! He kept it in because he doesn't want to ruin the game."

Rayla tried to fold her arms, remembering her bad shoulder too late. A wave of pain flooded through her and she had to blink tears out of her eyes. Even with the slightly blurry vision, she could see that all four of them – boys and creatures alike – were peering at her in concern.

"Are you okay?" Ezran asked. "What happened?"

She didn't want to talk about how she'd nearly died by being careless in someone else's game, exactly the reason why everyone in _The King's Champion_ didn't want her going to other games unsupervised. Stupid, stupid.

Rayla shook her head. "I'll be better when I get home. It doesn't matter."

"—running after you and that's why you can't just dash off without telling anyone!" Callum said, talking over her.

The ugly creature went red and stopped glowing. Ezran's face fell. "I'm sorry. I was just excited. I didn't really think..."

"It's _fine_ ," Rayla insisted. "It was my own stupid fault for not looking where I was going."

"But don't run off anyway, Ez, okay?" Zym added. He tapped Rayla gently with his tail. "We've been trying to break this habit since the game got plugged in! You're not helping with your denials!"

Ezran's pet had settled back into an orange-ish colour, which Rayla took to mean that he wasn't feeling so sorry any more. She decided to change the subject. "What is this place, anyway? I've never seen anything like it."

"I don't know," Ezran said. "I think it's a backdoor someone left in the code or something? I'm not sure why they would do that, but it's useful. I can fix lots of things from here. And you can find out so much! Like did you know—!"

Callum cringed, and Rayla raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you _sure_ he's not going Turbo?"

Ezran tilted his head curiously, like a bird. The ugly pet grumbled as it nearly fell off. "What's 'going Turbo'?"

"Remember, orientation? When we first got plugged in…?" Callum prompted, facepalming when Ezran stared at him blankly. " _Please_ tell me you didn't sneak out the back while no one was watching."

"But it was boring!"

"He snuck out the back when no one was watching," Callum mumbled into his hand. "Of course he did!"

"Turbo is someone who used to live in the arcade," Rayla explained. "He got jealous when a new game took attention away from his, so he started jumping into the new one, which only got the plug pulled on both of those games. We thought that was the end of it, but it turned out that he'd been manipulating the code of another racing game to make himself the main character..."

"Oh, he sounds terrible," Ezran said. "But I'm not going to do any of that stuff! I love _The Dragon Prince!_ It just… needs some fixing, sometimes."

"Still, you be careful." Rayla shook her head. She couldn't believe she was even agreeing to keep this a secret. There was just something about Ezran that seemed painfully genuine. "And maybe… don't mention this to anyone else, okay? They'll probably just think the risk of going Turbo is too high."

"Oh. Okay."

He still looked a little sad. Rayla cast about for something to say. " _But_ if you want to do a wee bit of tree-climbing… why not come to my game? I can show you!"

"Uh, won't that be dangerous?" Callum asked.

Rayla waved a hand dismissively. "Naw, it'll be fine. I'll be right there to catch you!"

"I'll come too!" Zym said, his tail lashing about like an excited whip. "I'm good at tall things."

Ezran's face had burst into a bright smile. "And we can see the castle! And the forest! I wanna learn about all your backstory!"

"Sure," Rayla said. He was a strange one. _He's probably more excited about my game than I am._ "There'll be plenty of story time."


	2. Chapter 2

Rayla didn't, strictly speaking, have to _sneak_ them all into her game, but that felt like the right thing to do with everyone being so depressed over the lack of players.

...Viren, mainly Viren. But he really was _quite_ upset in his own grouchy way. No need to bring his mood lower.

Ezran and Callum had a delightful time exploring the castle and grounds, places they only knew as programmed backstory and not as real places with hidden nooks and crannies, secret passages, and dusty, unused rooms that didn't hold any magic mirrors or _anything,_ to Ezran's and Callum's dismay.

She also learned that the ugly bait creature was a 'glowtoad' and actually _called_ Bait. When she asked why, Ezran only patted Bait's head soothingly and said that one of the devs had a cruel sense of humour. The look on Callum's face convinced her not to go down that road. Zym explored with them a bit, but he didn't like inside spaces all that much and the landscape of _Champions_ was not as developed as _The Dragon Prince,_ so it wasn't as much fun for him.

Afterwards, it became a bit of a habit for Callum, Ezran and Rayla (and Bait, he didn't like to be left out) to spend time exploring both games. On the days when Callum and Ezran stayed home, Zym would come looking for Rayla and insist they go somewhere to have fun.

His favourite game to visit was _Sugar Rush._ It was kind of childish in design, so Rayla had pretty much written off _Sugar Rush_ as beneath her. But she enjoyed it more than she expected to; once you got past the slightly saccharine décor and overload of sweet-based puns, it was actually a very well-designed game.

Zym loved winning and made Rayla race in the cast races they opened to characters from other games. Zym would sit on the back and open his wings – whilst shouting unhelpful instructions to Rayla.

"This is the closest you can get to flying without actually having wings _,_ you know," he told her. "Enjoy the wind in your face!"

"Maybe I should go at a nice, sedate pace, then," Rayla said. "Admire the view..."

" _Don't you dare take your foot off the pedal!"_

Ezran, meanwhile, managed to find half a dozen unfinished stages in the castle. Runaan saw them exploring once, but he only smiled and said he was glad she'd found some suitable friends. Rayla was sure that everyone else knew, really, but they went along with the polite fiction that Rayla had just discovered an easter egg hunting hobby.

It wasn't until Ezran started looking at those blocky, glitchy secret passages with a gleam in his eyes that Rayla wondered if maybe she'd started something terrible here.

"I wonder if there's a back door in here," he said thoughtfully, staring at the ceiling. Bait grunted.

"Ah-ah, maybe that's a bad idea—" Callum started to say.

Ezran ignored him, jumping through a painting of a queen which covered a corridor that was used to lead to another fighting stage, but they'd cut it and just put a portrait in the way so no one would go down there. It had taken Ezran all of two hours to find it on the first day.

"Aaaand here we go," he said. "Sorry that we always drag you into all these things."

The other day, Rayla had realised that she was actually having fun in _The King's Champions._ Someone had played the game the other day and she'd remembered a tiny sapling tree with a fun glitch that made you bounce nearly off the screen. It had been hilarious to watch the player's faces as she shot up to the top of the screen and jumped on them and their attempts to do the same. One guy actually figured it out just before closing and the entire arcade cheered.

"Naw, it's fine," Rayla said. She pointed to the portrait. "We should go before we lose him."

The corridor behind the portrait was dark, since it had been abandoned by the devs before they got to thinking about finishing touches like torches, but they knew it well enough by now not to get lost. Rayla skimmed her fingers along the stone wall, feeling the familiar rough dents and bumps, tugging Callum along by his wrist. After a few minutes, they saw a familiar glow coming from around a left turn—Bait, who also doubled up as a light source.

Bait yawned when he saw them. Ezran was sat cross-legged in front of a stone wall, peering at it intently.

Callum and Rayla exchanged a confused look.

"Uh, Ez?" Callum said.

"Shh! I'm trying to listen!"

"What—"

But Ezran clapped his hands over his ears and carried on staring. Callum sighed and gave up on getting his attention, instead going back to practise his magic spells. Maybe because the magic system hadn't been fully developed when _The King's Champions_ had been created, sometimes his spells worked here and sometimes they didn't. Even the wind spell, which was the most basic one in Callum's arsenal—the first one players unlocked— _and_ in use by one of the mages in _The King's Champions_ , only worked about half the time.

It was probably because their game was a puzzle platformer which required people to use their creative thinking to successfully pass each stage using Ezran's and Callum's different skills, whereas Rayla's game was just combat-oriented and didn't encourage anything more complicated than combo button-mashing…

...But sometimes she found the boys' ability to just sit and _not do things_ for a while to be a bit boring.

Well, Runaan said she had to learn a bit of patience. Rayla sighed and took out on of her swords, but she kept the blade folded up inside the sheath and merely sat, tossing it up in the air, testing the balance and her reflexes. At least all this sitting around hadn't impacted her Dexterity stat at all.

She threw it a little high on the next throw, striking the ceiling with a loud _THUNK_ which echoed around the whole space and clattered to the floor as she winced. Callum, instead of breathing out his wind spell, choked on it instead and gave her an unimpressed look with tears streaming from his eyes.

Ezran jumped to his feet. "Rayla, you're a genius! I never thought to look at the _ceiling._ "

"...Yeah!" Rayla agreed, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She stuck her tongue out at Callum. "A genius, that's me."

"What are you even looking for down here anyway?" Callum asked, wiping his eyes on his red scarf.

"The code," Ezran said mildly. He was holding Bait high up above his head and squinting at the ceiling. It had an identical texture to the walls and floor so Rayla wasn't certain what he was hoping to find up there.

Callum looked nervous all of a sudden. "Uh, Ez? We already looked for the code, remember? It's in the throne room, but we can't get in there?"

"You what?" Rayla demanded. "You wee rascal, you told me you weren't going to mess with _my_ game—"

"Well, I wasn't if I couldn't get at the code!" Ezran said. He tiled his head and squinted. "Should I do stone or rock first?"

"Stone," Rayla said.

"Rock," said Callum.

"Stone it is!" Ezran clapped his hands together. "Thanks, Rayla."

Callum made an exaggerated huff and folded his arms across his chest, making Rayla giggle, until she realised that Ezran was looking at her with big, pleading eyes.

Rayla sighed and helped him climb up onto her shoulders. "Can you reach?"

"This is good!" he replied." _Stone, rock, stone, stone, rock..."_ Ezran's mutterings filled the room as though there were some kind of geology cult sitting with him down there.

"What's he doing?" Rayla whispered to Callum.

He gave her a vaguely alarmed look. "Am I… supposed to know?"

"Stop it! You're distracting me!" Ezran made a noise of frustration and shifted in a way which made Rayla wobble a little. For someone so small, he was kinda heavy. "Ughh, now I have to start again! Stone, rock, stone, stone..."

Callum widened his eyes at Rayla and she was forced to clap her hands over her mouth to stop another giggle escaping – unless she wanted to be listening to Ezran's refrain of _rock, stone_ all day.

After a minute of pressing seemingly random parts of the ceiling, Ezran punched the air with his fist. "Yes!"

"What—"

The wall next to them suddenly slid aside to reveal… reveal a space exactly like the one in _The Dragon Prince._ Rayla gaped as she set Ezran down and he immediately dashed for the black hole, blue lines of code zooming around his head like the racers in _Sugar Rush_ on the last lap.

"I found another back door!" Ezran said. "I knew there must be one here somewhere. And look—" He touched a seemingly random bit of code as it few past. "The same guy must have worked on both our games! There's his signature!"

Rayla squinted at it, but it looked like a random collection of ones and zeros to her.

"It's kind of a mess, though," Ezran continued in a mournful tone. He poked at two other words as they flew by. "See? These are two bits of code for exactly the same thing, but in two different areas. No wonder you've got a lot of glitches."

He kind of had a point, she supposed. Even to Rayla, this code didn't seem as neat as the one for _The Dragon Prince._ The numbers and words moved about at different speeds and sometimes in totally different directions, unlike in Ezran and Callum's game, where it had seemed to scroll by in a neat, regimented fashion. As she watched, she even saw two bits of code _crash into_ one another.

"Do you want me to fix some of them?" Ezran said.

Rayla stared at him. She must not have heard that right. "Wh-what?"

"I mean, I can't fix _all_ of it." He gestured vaguely to the code flying around them. "There's too much overlap. I'd break the game completely if I tried to fix everything. The glitches are just part of the game now."

She thought of how happy that player had been to work out that springy sapling glitch. The way that the players, even when her ridiculous jumps caused them to _lose,_ had been laughing rather than upset.

How much happier she had been since she met Callum and Ezran, showing them around her game, and they'd reacted to the glitches not as something terribly broken, the reason nobody liked them, but just… the way that things were.

They didn't _need_ to fix all the glitches because the glitches weren't the problem—or at least not all of them. They just had to… find a way to let the players better enjoy everything _The King's Champions_ had to offer. Warts and all.

"Yeah, they are." Rayla nodded slowly. "It's okay. I know which bits we need to fix."

"Wait, I thought you were against altering the code?" Callum put his head in his hands. "Ez! You corrupted her! No one will like us now!"

Ezran tilted his head in confusion. "Well, they won't know, so why would they not like us?"

"Because!" Callum said forcefully, jabbing his finger directly in Ezran's face. Ezran continued to blink at him when nothing followed. Callum's shoulder's slumped. "...Instincts! Or something!"

* * *

With Rayla's advice, Ezran made slow but steady changes to the code of _The King's Champions._ They couldn't do too much at once or people might get suspicious, not to mention that they had to take care avoid being seen messing with the code.

But the changes already made had left Rayla feeling giddy with excitement. Her worst complaint about the game, echoing the players, was about the buggy controls which could be slow to respond and caused constant frustration by losing players the combat sequences. Ezran streamlined the code so that the CPU didn't freeze up when trying to process basic input commands. Suddenly, it became much harder for Rayla to hold her own against the players that they had, and the players seemed to be starting to notice as well—more had been returning, at least, which Rayla assumed could only be a good sign.

"We seem to have had a little bit more excitement lately," Runaan said.

It wasn't directed at her—he wasn't looking at Rayla at all, in fact. But she still felt self-conscious and tried to deflect suspicion. "Maybe the newness of _The Dragon Prince_ has worn off a bit?"

Runaan looked thoughtful. "Maybe that is it."

Rayla breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

She and the boys continued exploring the game as well, of course. Ezran got way too antsy to sit in one place all day, and it would be _pretty_ mean of Rayla to expect him to spend all of his free time working on the code for her game. Besides, when he was bored Bait looked at the numbers and letters like he wanted to eat them, and given all the weirdness that surrounded Ezran, Rayla wasn't a hundred percent convinced that was impossible.

Ezran was great at finding a bunch of little hidey-holes and forgotten or underdeveloped stages, hidden behind false walls and, on one memorable occasion, an unused area which had had a tower placed directly on top of it.

Eventually they got tired of only exploring the castle, though. On the boys' next visit to Rayla's game, they went to the forests, which involved walking through some strange transition stages because the in-between bits had never actually been coded, instead relying on abrupt scene cuts to jump between locations for the player.

Surprisingly, then it was Callum's time to shine. Ezran was much less comfortable in the woods than in the castle, and even with Callum's spells only working half the time, it was still enough to discover odd new things. Rayla's favourite was the one corner of the map where the breeze flowed in a completely different direction to the rest of the wind effects, and her ' _favourite_ ' was the random part of the forest where some dev had coded a family of bunnies that seemed to be guarding a nest of eggs instead of kittens (they left _that_ weirdness well enough alone).

There was one part of the forest which they kept coming back to – an enormous tree, nearly as wide as Ezran was tall at it's base, and a different texture to the others, with reddish bark and thin, spine-like leaves. Rayla had never paid it much attention; it had always been there, a strange interruption to the forest's landscape. For the longest time, she assumed it was just another glitch.

But by the fifth time that Ezran _and_ Callum came to stand in front of it, squinting as though that might make it reveal whatever secrets it had, she was starting to think it might be one of the few things in the game that was weird and outlandish _on purpose._

"Doesn't it feel..." Callum trailed off.

Ezran nodded. "You feel it too?"

"What?" Rayla asked in a hushed voice.

It seemed like a hushed sort of mood, but Ezran turned to look at her with a confused expression and whispered, "Why are you whispering?", so she guessed not.

"It feels like home." Callum brushed his fingers over the rough bark. "Which is weird because—well, it's not, right?"

"Ya don't say?" Rayla sighed, exasperated. Callum sure did have a gift for stating the obvious sometimes.

Ezran was clutching Bait so tightly that the poor thing was starting to wheeze a bit. Rayla poked him and he loosened his grip without taking his gaze away from the tree at all. "Hey, Callum," he said. "What if you tried the moon spell?"

That jerked Callum out of whatever reverie he'd been stuck in; he shook himself and laughed nervously. "But that couldn't possibly _work,_ right? I mean, I only use that spell once! And in a cutscene at that! Anyway, there's no moon magic to power the spell." With this last objection, Callum nodded to himself with an air of satisfaction.

"There's always me," Rayla said. Callum spluttered a bit, and she added, "Remember? Your little magic detector toy lit up for me. I'm a source of moon magic."

"Well, no—yes, but..." Callum waved his hands. "That was in _our_ game."

"So I would definitely still have it in this one?" Rayla narrowed her eyes, trying to decipher why he was being weird, but his flailing was not helpful. "You know, my own actual game?"

"Oh! Just!" Callum groaned. "I can't use you as a source, that's dark magic!"

"Is it?" Rayla asked.

"Is it?" Ezran echoed her.

"Ye..." Callum paused to give Ezran a particularly unimpressed look. " _Yes._ Dark magic uses magic creatures directly as a source—"

"That doesn't sound so bad—"

"—and consumes their souls," he finished pointedly.

"Oh." Rayla paused. "Is there… a way to do it without the soul-consumin' part?"

"Well… maybe?" Callum scratched his head. "With the other magics, it's like… you just redirect what's there? But the magic in a creature—or a moonshadow elf—is _meant_ to be there. I can't just take it out!"

Rayla looked at her hands. She didn't think of herself as a 'magic creature', even though she technically was. There was even a nice dramatic scene where she got to turn invisible using the power of the full moon, for the final boss fight—not that anyone had really gotten that far in a while.

"Would it work," she said, "if _I_ cast the spell?"

Callum blinked at her slowly. "Oh. Because it's _your_ magic. That… I mean in theory that _should_ work but… will the game let you? You don't seem to have that much magic stuff going on in here."

Rayla cracked her knuckles. "Well, there's only one way to find out. Show me the spell."

"It's really easy, it's just a..." He drew a circle in the air, and then a tiny 'x' symbol inside of it. "And then… _Nox._ "

"Nox," Rayla repeated.

She traced the same symbol in the air, but unlike when Callum performed _his_ spells, it didn't glow, and when she said 'nox'… nothing happened.

Rayla felt stupid.

Callum scratched his head. "...Maybe try it whilst you're touching the tree?" he offered weakly.

She traced her fingers against the rough bark—and to her surprise, it lit up.

Rayla was so surprised that she nearly jumped backwards in shock, but she managed to complete the spell pattern and stutter out the word…

...The tree flickered out of existence like she'd hit a switch and in its place was the dark hollow of a doorway, but only bushes and vines as a strange kind of archway. There was no way of telling where it led.

"...I did magic!" Rayla exclaimed.

Callum offered his hand for a high five, which she returned with enough force to make him flinch. "You did magic!" He tried to smile, but ended up wincing and cradling his hand. "And you were… really, really happy about it… ow _ow._ "

"Sorry."

"Where does it go?" Ezran poked his head through the entrance, giving the impression he'd been decapitated by the darkness before he pulled it back. "Do you think we should bring Zym?"

"I'm, uh, not sure we should even bring ourselves," Callum said. "Looks pretty dark and scary in there."

Ezran shrugged, said, "Well, we've got Bait," and just strolled right in.

Callum facepalmed and groaned. "Ez! I _swear—_ "

"I'll go after him," Rayla said. It was still her game, even if it was a part of it that she'd never seen before; no matter what lay beyond, she would be alright.

"No, no, I'll come too," he said. "After all, he's my brother."

"You know you aren't really related, right? It's just programming."

Callum shrugged. "It doesn't make it feel less real, you know?"

Rayla thought about Runaan, who was supposed to be her uncle. In the beginning, maybe they'd been close, but their relationship had soured as their game quickly declined in popularity. Was that her fault…?

"Anyway, it's not like there are going to be any acid pits around here!" Callum added cheerfully.

He wilted under her baleful look—Rayla did _not_ enjoy being reminded of that near-death experience—but when she relaxed and offered him her hand, they walked through the doorway together.

They emerged into… a place that looked strangely familiar. It wasn't as densely forested as the place they'd just left, but there were trees dotted about amongst the grassy clearing, which dipped and rose, making the landscape look like a rollercoaster.

"What took you guys so long?" Ezran called. At least he and Bait still seemed to be in one piece. "Hey, look, Callum! This place has acid pits, just like back home!"

Callum groaned. "Oh for the love of—I should just not talk. The devs do this on purpose!"

Ezran was busy pointing at the acid pit and didn't hear him. Rayla chuckled as she walked over, keeping a careful distance between her and the acid. This might be in her game… but she was still pretty sure that she didn't want to fall in.

"Hey… this really does look like the stuff at home." Callum peered carefully over the edge, and then looked around again with narrowed eyes. "In fact… isn't this… a little _too_ much like our game?"

"Is it some sort of bonus stage?" Ezran looked to Rayla.

"I've never seen it before!" she protested. But it did look a lot like the platform puzzles they'd shown her in _The Dragon Prince._ "Maybe they were going to put something in, but they didn't have time, so they sort of… dummied it out?"

"We do share a dev team after all." Ezran looked at Callum with bright eyes. "Can we have a go? Please? It might be fun to try out a new stage!"

"Remember this isn't our game, Ez," Callum replied gently. "We won't respawn in here. If something goes wrong..."

"Yeah, but you're really good at puzzles! I'm sure you can do it. And Rayla will be here to help."

Rayla was actually very tempted. She'd watched Callum and Ezran demonstrate a few of the early levels of _The Dragon Prince,_ just to show her how it worked, and it looked kind of fun.

Callum must have seen something on her face, because he sighed dramatically and slumped, defeated. "I can't take you guys anywhere without you getting into some kind of trouble! Let's… just be careful, okay?"

He took care of the acid pit in exactly the same way as he had that time when Rayla had first visited their game: with his earth magic spell. It even worked on the first try, which was weird, because the earth spell had literally never worked in _any_ of their other explorations of the game.

"Maybe it's because it's based on our game?" Ezran grinned suddenly. "Hey, maybe there was supposed to be copies of us running around in here, and that's why it works!"

"...That would be weird. Having two of ye." _Not to mention stressful,_ Rayla thought. Ezran never quite got into trouble so bad he couldn't get himself out of it, but it sure as hell looked like he _might_ be in deep trouble an awful lot.

They crossed the bridge and found the next obstacle, which was a very dark tunnel. Bait perked up in Ezran's arms and started to glow.

"He likes these ones," Callum explained. "We have to follow behind him as he lights the way."

"I guess they had to find some way of making glowing useful," Rayla said.

Bait huffed at her grumpily.

The rest of the puzzle was much the same—sometimes climbing up a ladder, which Ezran had to call an animal over to drop for them; sometimes a button that needed pressing that only Bait could reach; and sometimes Callum's magic was needed, a wind spell to clear the way, the earth bridges again, filling up a spike pit with water so they could safely cross (they never seemed to get wet from this)…

"It gets more complicated in our game," Ezran said. "There's this one level where there's a cave, but if you send Bait in straight away you just fall in an underground river and drown. You have to use Callum's water spell first."

"But how are they supposed to know that?" Rayla asked, faintly alarmed at the idea that Callum and Ezran 'drowned' on the regular.

"Trial and error?"

She shook her head. It seemed unfair to her, that you could lose just because you didn't guess right. At least in _The King's Champions,_ if your reflexes were good enough, no opponent was unbeatable in theory. Well, if the controls didn't bug out, anyway.

They carried on until the end of the level, which was a rope ladder on the ledge above them, far out of Ezran's and Callum's reach. The goal lay just up ahead, which Rayla could tell because there was a stone door, elaborately carved, which helpfully had GOAL! written above it in flashing, neon letters.

Callum coughed. "Uh, Ez? It's time to do your thing."

"I can't! There aren't any animals!" Ezran was looking around desperately.

Rayla peered again at the ledge. It didn't seem all… _woodsy_ like the ledges where Ezran had called animals to help—the devs must've been having fun coming up with animals that could come and 'help', because the last one had been a hippo—just a plain old stone ledge. The idea of calling animals to help her get up that kind of height was kind of embarrassing, anyway. It was such an easy jump, not even twice her height!

"Ooh, stop mumblin'," she said eventually, and sprang up to it.

To her surprise, there were neat little handholds along the ridge, and even convenient rests for her feet on the underside which she hadn't seen from below, which made it easy for her to haul herself onto the ledge and roll the rope ladder down for Ezran and Callum.

Callum was frozen to the spot and hardly seemed to notice the rope ladder. "...What."

"You can jump _that high?_ " Ezran asked.

Rayla blinked down at them. "Can you guys not?"

"Elves are so weird," Callum said. Rayla stared at him hard, and he quickly added, "Uhhhh I mean, amazing, graceful, spectacular—"

"Just climb the ladder," Ezran advised, and Callum put his entirely red head down and started to climb.

When all of them plus Bait had made it to the top (Rayla had to climb down again and jump up whilst carrying Bait in her arms), they stood and stared at the GOAL! door.

"I wonder what's actually there?" Callum said. "I mean, did they really bother putting in another puzzle stage that they never ended up using?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Rayla said.

But she made sure that she stepped forward first, just in case it was dangerous. Pushing the door open, she was momentarily blinded by a pure white light and had to blink spots out of her eyes. When her vision cleared, she realised she was standing before an egg. A blue egg of various shades which had a dim glow of its own, just like Bait.

She sucked in a breath. "It's the Dragon Prince's egg."

"It's Zym's egg." Ezran frowned. "But Zym already exists… this is weird."

"You were the one excited by alternate versions of ourselves running around a while ago!" Callum realised he wasn't listening and sighed. "Oh, just, nevermind—"

The egg started to crack and shake.

" _Close the door!"_ Ezran hissed, and Rayla obediently slammed it shut. She pressed her ears to the stone but couldn't hear anything on the other side.

"Ez," Callum said, exasperated.

"Two Zyms would just be too weird." Ezran shuddered. "We should at least ask him what he thinks first."

"I guess so," Rayla said. She'd been fond of Zym ever since—well, ever since he'd saved her life. She'd be pretty happy for a version of him to keep her company in her own game. Although it would be a bit weird. Would they look identical? Had they finalised the design for the Dragon Prince, Azymondias, even when they were making _The King's Champions_?

She shook herself. They could ask Zym about it. The egg might technically have been here first, but Zym was… well… _Zym_ first.

* * *

The sapling glitch was proving surprisingly popular. One person even found it hilarious enough to suicide on Rayla just so they could keep going back to the sapling-bounce stage.

A few months ago, Rayla would've been annoyed at this for 'not playing the game properly'. Now it made her feel like she was walking on air. They still weren't popular by any stretch of the imagination, but they were getting a few regulars, and they hadn't had a day of no plays for nearly two weeks now.

The all-clear was given and the characters started to do their cool-down stretch routines. Zangief ran a fitness course. He was very serious about proper aftercare for the body, and all the characters from fighting games had gone on a course. Rayla had found it fun, despite the occasional tips for how to 'crush heads between thighs, like grape'—wayyy too gross and unrealistic for Rayla's game, but it was the thought that counted.

"Good job, everyone!" Harrow called to the cast, applauding them in a way which was echoed strangely as people added to it from their own levels.

Rayla bounced down out of the trees, automatically starting for the entrance, before she was interrupted by a cough behind her.

Runaan smiled as she stopped and turned to look at him. "I'm glad you've become such close friends with those boys from _The Dragon Prince._ I admit, I… worried at first you would blame them for the condition of our game. I know a lot of people do, but..."

He trailed off, but Rayla couldn't think of anything to say. He was supposed to be her uncle. Had things always been this awkward between them? They hadn't had a serious conversation for months, not since _The King's Champions_ began to enter a serious decline.

She couldn't think of anything to say, but she didn't want to leave.

Eventually, Runaan spoke up again. "Are you going to meet them... now?"

"I was thinkin' about going to find them," she said carefully, "but we hadn't made any plans."

"I see," Runaan said. "Perhaps—just for tonight—I thought… you might like to go somewhere with me. Instead."

Rayla expected herself to hesitate, but surprised even herself when there was only a warm rush of affection. The boys—and Zym—would understand. "I'd like that," she said. "It's _Sugar Rush's_ open race night. Best out of three; if I win, you have to sneak me into _Tappers._ "

Runaan made an attempt to scowl at her, but he couldn't hide his twitching lips, threatening to burst into a real smile. "Rayla..."

"Warrior's honour I won't drink anythin'!" she added, and the twitching turned into full blown laughter.

"You drive a hard bargain, but I have to agree." Runaan clapped her on the shoulder. "Of course, there is no chance that I will actually lose."

 _Fat chance,_ she thought, but she contained herself to looking smug. Rayla didn't know if Zym was right when he said it was the next best thing to flying, but the rush of the wind in her ears, the roar of the engine, the swooping feeling in her stomach at a sharp turn or one of the big jumps—that was one of the best feelings.

Annoyingly, Runaan still beat her, but it was all worth it when he ruffled her hair and said she could try again some time.

* * *

The first hint that something was seriously wrong was when they took the train back to Central to find the place an inch away from chaos.

Rayla watched as the relaxation drained out of Runaan and his face became drawn and serious. It might just be programming, but he was still the leader of their band of moonshadow elves—when she looked into the crowd she could only see people on the edge of panic, but Runaan's eyes found something that she couldn't, and he strode towards one of the cast of Hero's Duty with Rayla tagging along at his heels.

"What's going on?" he asked shortly.

Despite being from a totally different setting, the soldier saluted smartly at Runaan's tone. Then he seemed embarrassed, because his arm dropped to his side. "Uh, we're assisting the Surge Protector with a lockdown whilst we make a tally of all the casts."

"Is someone missing?" Rayla said. "What happened?"

"We aren't sure yet," the soldier replied. "It's that dragon from—uh, _The Dragon Prince._ He was seen leaving after closing but then..."

He trailed off, staring at Rayla as she felt all the colour drain from her face.

"Zym?" she whispered.

"Oh, he's a friend of yours," he said, voice wavering a bit. He awkwardly cleared his throat. "Don't worry, ma'am, I'm sure he'll be found. The surge protector is organising a search of each game right at this moment!"

Rayla only heard his words as though from a great distance, as though she was sinking in water—drowning. She felt Runaan's hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently, a quiet reassurance.

"Where—" Her mouth felt dry, and she had to swallow a few times before she could get the words out. "Where's Callum and Ezran? They—"

"Another time," Runaan said, not unkindly. "We should get home so we can be accounted for."

So Rayla was accounted for, and Runaan, and the rest of _The King's Champions._ Safe and sound. These were people Rayla had spent her whole life with, so she should be comforted to know they're all safe.

But no trace of Zym was found at all. The Surge Protector was able to say that he crossed into _The King's Champions,_ apparently looking for Rayla. He left again, and that was where his trail went cold. He didn't enter any other game, including his own.

He vanished in Central Station. _Died._

And whatever relief there might have been at seeing _her_ cast okay was quickly swallowed by bitterness and regret. He'd been looking for _her._ If she'd just stayed at home—

If, if.

* * *

Rayla didn't sleep at all that night. The moonshadow elves had a section of the castle they'd made their own, with their own private rooms. Whatever else you could say about Harrow and Viren, they were keen for the 'bad guys' of the game to consider themselves an important part of the show.

She tossed and turned in her bed, alternately staring at the darkness outside of her window and throwing the blankets over her head, trying to shut the world. It felt strange to be staying here when her friends would be in mourning, but she had no idea what she would say to them if she went. They were going to be _homeless._ Without Zym, it would be obvious the game was broken. It would get unplugged. Maybe the proprietor would order a new one since it was popular, and there'd be another copy of Callum and Ezran and Zym running around—

_Another copy._

Rayla bolted upright and was fiddling with the latch on her window before she'd even realised what she was doing. She paused, looking down at her fingers, still holding the window latch open.

Was this… right? Fair? They didn't know anything about that strange egg they found on the bonus level. It might not be Zym at all. It might _look_ like Zym, but not act anything like him. _The Dragon Prince_ might not accept a… replacement.

All Rayla could think was that Zym was already dead, and Callum and Ezran were now staring down the barrel of gamelessness—something which Rayla had been contemplating for months before she became friends with them. She'd thought about how it would be, to have nowhere that was perfectly safe for you, where an accident or a stray fire ball could kill you. To have nothing of your own other than what you could carry, depending on others for everything.

Callum and Ezran didn't deserve that. Maybe more importantly, neither did the arcade. If a new version of _The Dragon Prince_ was installed, they might get another Callum and Ezran but they wouldn't get _this_ Callum and Ezran back. It would be like those loyal players they'd earned on _The King's Champions._ They came _because_ of the glitches, the uniqueness. With a new Callum and Ezran who'd had different experiences even if they had the same programming, the players would always be subtly wondering what felt wrong. The oldest games said they'd seen it before – the replacement just didn't have the joy of the old one, as hard as the new characters tried.

It was hard to think about joy right now, but Rayla knew Zym wouldn't want that to happen to his game. How Callum and Ezran would feel about the chance to befriend another Zym—that was something else. But they deserved that chance.

Rayla pushed the window open, pausing for a moment to retreat back into the room and collect her swords. Then she hopped outside, using her swords like picks to climb down the mountain. She only had a limited amount of time to find the easter egg and see if it could be used by _The Dragon Prince_ in place of Zym.

And she couldn't do it alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to the lovely [blueandie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueandie/pseuds/blueandie)! <3


	3. Chapter 3

Central Station was deserted. Even on a normal day, the late-night visitors to Tappers would've headed home by this time, and this day had been far from normal. In the silence, Rayla's soft footsteps still echoed around the space, which seemed cavernous when it was empty.

As one of the newest games, _The Dragon Prince_ was located right at the end. Rayla stood on the threshold and hesitated. Was it too soon? Would Ezran and Callum even forgive her for not being there when Zym came looking for her? But if they waited for too long, _The Dragon Prince_ would just get replaced. There would be a single day's grace period, but after that? It could have the plug pulled with very little warning.

Rayla steeled herself and took a step forward. Even if they hated her, she had to do this.

The cord train to _The Dragon Prince_ seemed painfully slow. She sat on it alone, hands clasped between her knees. Her chest felt tight and she kept imagining that someone would jump out at any moment and say, " _You!_ _ **You're**_ _not allowed here!"_

But the trains ran autonomously and nobody arrived to send her home. Rayla still found her breath coming in short gasps as she dashed up the stairs and into _The Dragon Prince_ proper. She knew the clearing where Callum and Ezran normally slept – Lujanne, the only adult in their game, preferred to nest with her phoenix friend – but she found herself dragging her feet. Her mouth was dry and her knees felt weak. What could she say to them? There was nothing that could ever make this better.

Rayla had hoped they would be asleep, so that she would have time to steel herself before she had to talk to them—but only Bait was snoring, his skin a dull grey colour that was only lightened a little by the faint glow he gave off.

Callum and Ezran looked at her. There were dark circles under their eyes. She could almost hear the accusations being whispered in her ears. She took a step back—

Ezran yawned and rubbed his eyes. "You couldn't sleep either?"

Rayla blinked.

"It's hard when you're so worried." Ezran patted Bait's head carefully, making him shift and grumble in his sleep. "You should try to get some rest, though. You… I mean, your game's going to be open tomorrow."

Callum said nothing, only picking at the loose fibres of his gloves.

Her mouth might as well have had a desert poured into it. "I..."

"Rayla." Callum sighed. "I mean, I don't think now is the time."

"That's not fair!" Ezran said, puffing up his cheeks indignantly. "Zym was her friend too—!"

"Yeah, but she's not the one who's going to get unplugged." Callum didn't even sound mad, which made Rayla cringe worse than if he'd shouted at her. He didn't sound like anything. His voice was simply dead. "We need to spend tomorrow choosing what we're going to save. What we can _afford_ to save. Rayla can wait."

"But..."

"The easter egg," Rayla blurted.

They both turned to stare at her. Even though they weren't related and didn't look much alike, at that moment they furrowed their brows identically.

"What?" Callum said.

"Remember—that stray level we found, with the egg—and since he doesn't have to fight, it shouldn't matter that he can't respawn in your game."

Callum blinked, slowly. "The egg. Zym's egg..."

She could see the gears churning over in his head. Ezran made the connection too and grimaced. "So we're just going to replace him?" he muttered under his breath.

He must have forgotten about Rayla's acute hearing, because he jumped when she answered, "I know it's not—what anyone would want. But this way, your game won't be at risk. You can have time to grieve without thinkin' of—of anything else."

"How are we going to explain it to everyone?" Callum asked.

"We'll tell the truth—we just found it when we were exploring." Rayla honestly hadn't thought this far ahead, and then she saw Callum frown, unconvinced. Her voice came out more like a question than she meant when she added, "They'll have to accept it when we turn up with a new Zym?"

"Wait, but what about you?" Ezran said. Bait was starting to stir from all the talking, and grumbled as though to punctuate the sentence. "It took a while last time—what if you miss opening?"

Rayla waved a hand dismissively. "No one plays our game anyway. They'll never know."

"But you'll get in trouble with—"

"I can't do _nothing!_ " Rayla burst out.

She regretted it when Ezran drew back, pulling his knees up to his chest. Bait opened one eye to give her a reproachful look.

"Sorry," she said, her voice fading away on the second syllable. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt anyone—to hurt anyone _more._

"Rayla," Callum said softly. "You know it's not your fault, right?"

It was stupid to cry at that when she'd been so worried that that was exactly what they _would_ think. She tried to rub away the tears in her eyes, but her voice was still choked when she replied, "It doesn't matter. If _I_ had been there, he would never—"

"You don't know that!" Callum ran a hand through his hair. "Or maybe he wouldn't, but then the next time—"

Ezran cut him off. "The next time? They said it was an accident."

Callum winced. The silence afterwards stretched out in a strange way, seeming to make a sort of tunnel around Rayla's head, making everything strange and distorted. She knew that Ezran said the words, "He was killed?" because she saw them form on his lips, but she didn't hear them for a few seconds.

She'd been so much in shock at the news of Zym's death, she hadn't considered at all how it could have happened. It seemed short-sighted and foolish, in retrospect. Zym didn't look like much, dragons were powerful magical beings in the universe of _The King's Champions_ and _The Dragon Prince._ Not all of that carried over outside of his own game, but he was still much stronger than he looked. And, as he so liked to remind everyone, he could _fly._

What kind of accident would it have taken to kill him? No, it made much more sense that someone had murdered him. Someone had sneaked up on him, or caught him off guard somehow…

"I told them that you wouldn't—that none of you would—"

Ezran managed to go even paler and Bait sat up on his haunches, fully awake in an instant. "They think it was _Rayla?"_

Her thoughts shuddered to a halt as they all turned to look at her. "I..."

"I told Lujanne you wouldn't do that, of course!" Callum said hastily. A little part of Rayla relaxed. At least he didn't think… "But I don't know if she believed me. So you should go before you get caught!"

Ezran blinked a few times, and then his face hardened with determination. Grabbing hold of Bait carefully, he stood up. "Yeah. We should leave now."

"Ez?"

"If Rayla helps us stop the game from being unplugged, they'll know it wasn't her," he continued forcefully. "So we should go before anyone can stop us."

"Ez..." Callum faltered. He opened his mouth several times, but never quite said anything. Rayla stayed quiet, letting him work through his objections. Eventually, he just sighed and said, "Alright. It's got to be better than staying here doing nothing. Just… promise me you'll be careful, all right?"

"I'll protect you both," Rayla declared, touching the swords at her back just to reassure herself that they were still there. "I won't let anythin' happen to you, especially after—after."

She hadn't been there for Zym, but fighting was what she was good at. Literally, what she was _made_ to do.

For some reason, Callum frowned at her. " _You_ have to be careful too. I'm too young to be getting grey hairs!"

Ezran frowned. "But you can't age. You'll never get grey hairs."

"It's an _expression,_ Ez—" Callum pinched the bridge of his nose as he cut himself off. "Oh, let's just go before one of us becomes too sensible to attempt this."

That was a vote of confidence if Rayla had ever heard one!

* * *

Perhaps it was because the stakes were so much higher, but the walk to the hidden puzzle stage felt more nerve-wracking than Rayla's solo trip to _The Dragon Prince._ The third time she destroyed some random bush, startling some poor innocent birds or the weird rabbits with eggs, only for it to respawn again within seconds, Rayla decided that it might be more prudent to travel with her swords sheathed. At this rate, she was as likely to endanger them through excessive caution as to save them from anything.

Despite Rayla's nerves, they made it to the strange doorway without incident. There was nothing different about it, even when they entered, but it _felt_ different. Even Ezran took care with every step, they double-checked every pathway and tested every vine for strength before they would climb up it. Nothing was weaker or any more dangerous than before, but there was just a niggling doubt in the back of Rayla's head that she couldn't escape now.

She assumed something similar was affecting Callum and Ezran, because they didn't object to any of her – maybe excessive – safety precautions.

It was strange to feel so unsafe, even in her own game. It felt… wrong.

The feeling hadn't left by the time they made it to the top of the level where the door awaited, but it was squashed beneath more immediate concerns: what if it didn't work? What if the egg wasn't a 'Zym'? What if it didn't look or sound like him? What if they'd come all this way for no reason at all, what if Rayla was still as useless to help her friends, what if—?

"Are you going to open the door?" Ezran said, and she blinked. He pointed to it. "It's got elf prints on it."

There were, indeed, the tell-tale four-fingered handprints of an elf. Not Rayla's size, nor Runaan's or any of the other moonshadow elves in the game—comically large, in fact, almost certainly just for decoration.

"It might as well have a big, shouty sign on it. _Elves only!_ " Callum said. "Yeah, I am _definitely_ not touching that."

"Was that _there_ before?" Rayla pointed to it. "I feel like I would've noticed."

"Maybe it's like a hard mode for when you have a second go?" Despite the situation, Ezran leaned forward eagerly. "Are you going to open it?"

They'd come too far to turn back now. Rayla took a step forward and put her hands to the door. Rather than having to push it, the doors opened inwards even after she drew her hands back. The egg sat on the same pedestal as before, still with the faint blue glow—but it didn't seem to be… moving as much, this time.

"That was weird." Callum looked around nervously. "Uh… maybe we should just take the egg and go. Like, _now_."

"Why won't it hatch?" Ezran said. "It's going to be hard to get it back down."

Rayla also felt a prickling on the back of her neck and a dreadful sense of foreboding. "We can worry about that later."

It was more difficult on the way down, passing the egg carefully between them as they retraced their steps through caves, down vine ropes, over cliff edges barely wide enough for them to put one foot in front of the other. Rayla held on to it for most of the time. It was from her game, and this was her plan; it felt like her responsibility as well.

When they got to the bottom of the level, they found someone waiting for them.

"Viren," Rayla said, feeling her heart sink down to her toes. There was the noise of a rock being disturbed as Ezran shuffled closer to her. She could feel the heat of Bait's breath on her back.

Viren looked down at them with a face that was nearly expressionless—only a flicker of disapproval in the slight furrowing of his brows. "I thought you, of all people, would understand, Rayla. The longevity of our game was at stake. I had to take steps to ensure our future—"

Rayla carefully handed the egg off to Callum, reaching for the swords at her back. "By destroying someone else's? We were doing _fine!_ "

Viren's nostrils flared. "Fine? _Fine?_ The players might have been enjoying the novelty, but you know that doesn't last for long. They would have forgotten about us, sooner or later. We needed to remove as many distractions as possible." He glanced distastefully at the egg. "The dragon wouldn't have been an ideal target for _exactly_ this reason, but one must take opportunities where they arise."

"You're disgusting," Rayla hissed. "You're just a coward!"

"Better than being a reckless idiot who would mess with the code and doom us _all,_ " Viren snapped back, suddenly snarling and angry. "Did you think you were the only one who had come up with such a solution? The _only one_ who had discovered the 'back door'?"

"You put the handprints on the door," Ezran said suddenly. "So that only Rayla could open it?"

"Only an elf, but I had Rayla in mind." Viren sneered at her. Rayla tightened her grip on her swords. "I assumed, even if she was happy to consort with the enemy, she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and betray us in this way. Clearly, I was wrong."

" _Consorting with the enemy?"_ Rayla repeated. "Have you heard yourself? They're not the enemy any more than the code itself. We're practically the _same—_ look, this level, it's just like one of theirs! Everything we share. Doesn't it mean anythin'?"

But Viren only shook his head and sighed. She fumbled desperately for the right words to say to him—anything that might convince him. Surely there must be something. Surely the man that had guided their cast for so long, a man she'd looked up to, couldn't have sunk so low.

"I _am_ sorry about this, Rayla," he said. For the first time, there was a touch of mournfulness about him; a crease at the corner of his eyes. "I know it isn't your fault. You've been programmed to seek out these attachments with people your own age. This is for your own good—but I promise it won't hurt you. You won't remember them at all."

Rayla sucked in a breath, the fury driving through her all at once and leaving her feeling like she'd been punched in the gut. How dare he? _How dare he try to take them away?_ Not enough to kill her friends, now he wouldn't even let her remember them—to remember the way that Zym had tucked his wings around himself very carefully, so that he was always perfectly poised; how Callum would draw pictures that looked alive; Ezran's unique and joyful way of looking at the world; even how brightly Bait would glow when he was happy, like a miniature sun.

No. Rayla had already lost Zym, but she wouldn't lose the rest of them.

Viren's staff twisted in his hands and started to shine. Rayla flicked her arms and her swords opened out as the glittering eyes of the snake's head glowered at her.

"Stay behind me," she said to Callum and Ezran; out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that Callum had pushed Ezran behind _him._

She wished she could spare the time to reassure them, but there would only be a moment when—

A spell like dark clouds gathered at the head of Viren's staff—a spell that Rayla had seen performed hundreds of times as people played the game. It was meant to disintegrate. Bile burned at the back of her throat, but she rushed forward, knocking the bottom of the staff so Viren lost his grip on it, then batting it away with her swords.

Viren hissed, taking a step away from her—

He was programmed to underestimate her, but even that would only do so much. In the story of _The King's Champions,_ Viren nearly single-handedly defended King Harrow from the moonshadow elven assassins.

He was already recovering, straightening, eyes flickering around as he formed a new plan.

Rayla grimaced and plunged both her swords into his chest.

Viren choked for a moment and slumped, falling off her blades neatly.

Callum spluttered, nearly dropping the egg. "Did—Did you just—?"

Rayla's stomach turned over at the shocked expression on his face, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. "Come on! He'll respawn again any minute!"

Calum was pale but he nodded, grabbing onto Ezran's shoulder and hauling him through the black doorway back to the main part of the game.

She spared a few seconds to pick up Viren's staff and throw it, as hard as she could, into the platforms of the puzzle. Knowing Viren, he would still be able to find it, but it would hopefully slow him down enough for them to get to _The Dragon Prince,_ where they could rally reinforcements.

Viren was already coughing and spluttering when Rayla stepped through the doorway. She swore when she saw Callum and Ezran had been waiting for her. "You stupid—! You have to take the egg and go _!"_

"We wouldn't leave you," Ezran said stubbornly.

Rayla's heart felt lighter to hear him say that out loud, and Callum's fierce nod, even though all she did out loud was growl and push Ezran's back to make him run.

Her breath was already coming in ragged gasps from the panic rising in her. All she could think was the distance to the exit – too far, too far.

She gritted her teeth. At this rate, she would make herself useless and right now, she could _not_ be useless. She tried to smooth out her breaths, her thoughts, making her movements fluid and efficient— _steady like the rising of the moon,_ her mind whispered to her. It was a single line from her backstory, something programmed into her and not a thing that she had _really_ experienced, but it brought her comfort all the same.

They ran through the forest, Rayla keeping pace with Ezran, grabbing and hauling him along every time he stumbled over a stray tree root. Callum carried the egg and she winced every time he looked like he might fall, but he somehow kept his feet.

A soft whizzing sound barrelled towards them and she pushed Ezran to the ground instead. A bolt of lightning struck the space where Ezran's head had been a moment earlier, leaving a black scorch mark on the tree and spots in Rayla's vision.

Disoriented and half-blind, she tried to position herself between Ezran and the threat, bringing her swords up in a defensive position. Her ears were ringing but she was sure she was shouting for Ezran to keep going. She just had to hope that he could hear her and that he'd listen this time. Searching for his staff hadn't taken Viren as long as she thought—

A bolt of _something_ struck her full force and she was blown off her feet, hitting the tree behind her hard enough to see stars. She'd lost one of her swords in the blast and as she slumped to the floor, the other one slipped from her numb fingers. The dirt beneath her cheek was cool, and the idea of getting up seemed impossibly hard. Rayla twitched her fingers as a trickle of blood ran from her head, sliding down her face, along her nose next to her eye.

Rayla ground the heel of her hand into the dirt, but it wouldn't seem to bear her weight. Something heavy fell across her neck, pushing her back into the dirt, and everything went black.

* * *

She came back with a start. Her injuries were gone and her head was clear. She groped around for her swords, found only one, and sprang to her feet. _No time to look for the other._

The woods around her were empty but she could hear the sounds of screaming and fighting. Following the noise, she burst into the scene of a fight between Viren and Callum – who was holding onto Rayla's other sword whilst desperately trying to cast spells one-handed in time to counteract Viren's. He must have had mixed success, because whilst there was the tell-tale pattern of a lighting strike running up his arm in an angry red, he wasn't dead yet.

She spared enough time to check that Ezran and Bait were still okay—Ezran had the egg now—before she dashed in, slashing at Viren and making him abort his spell before it could be completed.

Technically, she had just as much training programmed into her with one sword as with two, but she felt off-balance and clumsy without both of them in her hands.

"Callum!" she yelled, ducking under a swing of Viren's staff. "When I shout, throw it to me!"

"The sword?"

"Of course the sword, ya—"

Viren's staff hit her sternum and she stumbled back, losing the rest of the sentence as her breath rushed out of her. But Callum and Ezran we still too close and she couldn't afford to let up on Viren for a second. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep moving, coming back into Viren's strike zone and catching the staff on her single sword.

But she didn't have the strength to fight him, and she buckled under the weight as Viren pushed back, throwing her aside and drawing the rune for another spell. Callum pushed Ezran behind a tree as Rayla tried to grab Viren's ankle and pull him down, but he danced out of her reach.

Callum was still holding onto her other sword. He rushed at Viren.

 _No!_ Rayla wanted to yell at him. _He's stronger than you!_

She still hadn't got her breath back, though, and instead she managed to dive in Viren's way as he took a step forward to meet Callum with the sword. She didn't trip him completely, but he stumbled over her. Callum slashed wildly with the sword, baulking when he actually managed to draw a sharp red line across Viren's palm.

He barely paused, hitting Callum in the chest with his staff and sending him sprawling. Viren started to draw another rune in the air—

And then a rock hit him square in the face, making him flinch and draw back. Ezran's head poked out from behind the tree.

Rayla forced herself to her feet and scooped up her second sword from where Callum had dropped it. She jumped at Viren before he had a chance to do more than snarl at Ezran. Her thoughts were a whirl and she had no plan except, _I won't let you—_

With two swords, Viren had a harder time fending her off, but he managed to divert strike after strike. Rayla became more desperate, throwing as much weight behind each strike as she could. He matched her still, dodging attacks where he could, unable to get any distance to use one of his spells. A stalemate.

Then the next time Rayla swung her swords, Viren leaned into the attack, leaving her unbalanced. He pushed her over again, but she wasn't winded and helpless this time, she rolled with the blow and came up on her feet.

It was enough time for Viren to have completed another rune, another disintegration spell. Callum managed to duck behind a tree, but it turned to dust a moment later, and he was left defenceless.

_No._ _**No.** _

Rayla burst forward. Viren must have heard her approach, but this time she was too fast for him. He let out an exasperated, "Rayla," before she buried both swords in his chest just as he turned around.

He coughed and spluttered. Rayla found herself staring at the spot of blood on his cheek rather than the disappointed, almost fatherly expression in his eyes.

He slumped to the ground, unmoving.

"Are you going to have to keep doing that?" Callum said cautiously.

Rayla swallowed. "If it's in our game, it's fine." Viren had come back quicker than she thought last time; they didn't have a moment to lose, not even for Rayla to wipe the blood off her swords. "Let's go."

Callum and Ezran didn't need telling twice this time. They didn't eat up the distance quite as easily as Rayla did but the forest soon gave way to the grand bridge which lead out to the corn fields and the castle, a wide dirt road winding towards the electronic sign announcing Central Station. They were near the exit, but there was so much open ground. Viren would catch up to them for sure. Could she fight him off again without losing anyone? Was it worth going to the castle for help? Viren knew it better than her, better even than Ezran; what if he found them first?

The worst thoughts, the ones that Rayla had been suppressing, made her wonder if she'd been spending too much time away from her own cast. If she hadn't seen Viren's betrayal coming, could she be sure no one else would be sympathetic to his cause? That no one else would be helping him?

Rayla didn't want to believe that of Harrow or Runaan or _anyone,_ but if she was wrong...

If she hesitated too long, Viren would find them on the bridge, and that was the worst possible place.

Rayla shook herself and ushered them on. There was no time. The quicker she could escort Callum and Ezran to their game, the better. They'd be safe there.

There was a steady _thunk thunk thunk_ as they dashed over the wooden bridge. "Into the corn fields," Rayla said, panting. It would be a longer route but they'd have some chance of remaining hidden. "Bait, keep it down, would you?"

Bait hissed through his teeth, staying a vivid blue, but he stopped glowing. At some point, Ezran had given the egg back to Callum, leaving Bait secure in his arms again. Bait's claws were still digging deep into the fabric of Ezran's sleeves. She supposed he couldn't control what colour he turned when he was frightened.

The corn rustled as they scurried through it like mice, sounding unbearably loud to Rayla's ears. A part of her brain was frightened of how the stalks shook as they moved through them, but her rational side shouted it down, knowing that the movement was impossible to see except from the height advantage of the castle.

Even without behind able to see above the tall stalks of corn, she had an excellent sense of direction and could be sure they were going the right way. She would just have to hope that that they could make it to the Central Station train before Viren caught up to them.

She kept her ears peeled for any signs of Viren, but she couldn't hear any sounds of pursuers. She took the opportunity to gulp in some air.

_No need to panic. Everything is going fine._

The egg was safe. Callum and Ezran were safe. They weren't out of the woods yet, but it was going to be okay. She had to believe that.

"Are you okay, Rayla?" Ezran whispered.

"Great! Fine! I'm not worried about anything!"

Even Bait gave her a strange look.

"It's okay. You don't have to pretend." Callum shuddered. "Seeing you die was..."

"Scary," Ezran finished, clutching Bait tightly.

Of all the things she thought they'd bring up, that wasn't it. "Aw, it's not so bad. It's my own game, after all. You guys die all the time in yours!"

"Yeah, but that's different," Ezran said. "There's no… blood or anything."

"He's right. In ours it's just like, 'oh no! I'm so uncomfortably purple that I fell over!'" Callum pulled an exaggerated disgusted expression and waved his hands as though panicking. "Seriously, it's just like, kids stuff. Yours…" He lowered his hands, the amusing expression slipping. "...looks like it hurts. It's really… it means a lot that you would go that far for us."

Rayla felt her cheeks grow pink. "You're my friends. Of course I'm going to..."

She stopped as she caught a whiff of something strange. Holding up a hand for silence, she carefully sniffed the air… the scent of hot dirt and charcoal…

 _Fire_.

"...Oh no," she breathed. "He's going to burn us out."

"What?" Callum said, his voice turning a bit squeaky towards the end.

Maybe she should've kept that information to herself. Too late now. "He's burning the wheat. We have to run."

"Nothing new there then, I guess." Callum sighed, but his face was pale and his fingers tapped nervously against the egg.

Ezran's face fell. His breathing was still heavy from the last bit of running. They were all starting to tire. But what else was there to do?

They ran.

Rayla tried to test which way the wind was blowing to guess which direction the fire would come from, but they couldn't stop for long enough and it was impossible to be sure. The wheat stalks whipped against her face as they crashed through the field, stinging her eyes and cheeks.

 _Someone in the castle has to notice this,_ Rayla thought. _Someone will come to see what's going on._

She wasn't sure if that would be a good or bad thing, but it would be something to distract Viren, at least.

The smoke lay thick in the air now, tears running down Rayla's cheeks, making it nearly impossible to see where she was going. Her sense of direction was still good and she was able to steer them towards the exit, but there was nothing she could do about the coughing or spluttering except keep listening for Viren's footsteps behind them.

The fire spread fast. Rayla found it hard to keep listening for Viren over the crackling of the flames. The exit. They just needed to find the—

A wall of flames rose up suddenly in front of them with a strong gust of wind.

" _Aspero,"_ Callum said. The name of the wind spell, but not even a breeze stirred Rayla's hair.

Rayla grabbed his and Ezran's arm and dragged them right, towards the path. There was no way they could get through a wall of fire like that. The exit was close enough that she could almost taste it. They just had to keep _going._

The dry grass under her feet turned into solid, hard-packed earth. Rayla felt, rather than saw, the difference. "Almost there!" she said, and then doubled over in a hacking cough that brought her to a stop.

"We can't get through like this," Callum said. "I can clear the air, maybe—"

"He'll find us!" Rayla protested.

"He's going to find us anyway." Ezran had tucked Bait's head inside his shirt to save him from the worst of the smoke. "He knows where we need to end up. And he's already gotten ahead of us!"

Rayla's instinct was still to hide, to not be seen. That was probably the assassin in her talking. But she couldn't just think of herself, and they had a point. "Alright, Callum. I just hope it works."

He grimaced, although maybe that was the smoke in his eyes, but didn't say anything as he traced the wind rune in the air. It glowed like spells should, which was a good sign and the first bit of luck they'd had all night—

To her dismay, the spell came out malformed and instead of producing a powerful tunnel of wind, there was barely enough to call a strong breeze.

"I coughed as I said it," Callum said, coughing again as though to prove his point. "I can try—"

But Rayla had seen something beautiful in the brief moment when the smoke was disturbed by the breeze: three letters of a glowing red sign. STA.

Her instincts had been right. Her heart soared. "It's here! It's right ahead of us!"

She pulled them forward at breakneck speed, which was quite a bit faster than they were normally comfortable travelling. Callum let out a girlish shriek which was quickly muffled by another cough, but they cleared the smoke in another few moments. If Rayla's eyes weren't already streaming, she would have cried at the sight of the train in the station.

Ezran and Callum put on a burst of speed to reach the train, which probably saved their lives.

As they pulled ahead of Rayla, another bolt of lightning passed inches behind their heads, directly in front of Rayla's face. She shrieked and covered her eyes, but it was too late—all she could see was a brilliant streak of light.

Ezran yelped suddenly and Rayla drew her swords instinctively, but between the crackle of the flames and the hum of the electricity in the train line, she couldn't even hear him. _Dammit, Rayla, you screwed up, you screwed up and they're going to die…_

Callum called Ezran's name, and hers, and then there was a grunt that she recognised as Viren. She took a step towards the noise but hesitated. What if she hurt Ezran or Callum by mistake?

Suddenly, Ezran shouted, "Bait, do your thing!"

Viren cursed and there was the noise of a body hitting the floor. Someone grabbed Rayla's arm and she flinched, nearly raising her swords to them until Callum said, "It's okay, it's me!"

Relief flooded through her, and she let him lead her towards the electrical hum. "Are you all okay?"

"We're fine," he reassured her. "Look, we made it!"

"Callum, she can't see," Ezran said.

"Oh, right..."

Actually, the afterimage was starting to fade a bit. She could just about make out the seats of the train before she stumbled into it. She collapsed into it, flicking her blades back into the sheaths, but keeping a tight grip on them. "What happened?"

Something small and warm was dropped into her lap. "Bait saved us!" Ezran said, sounding a little like a proud dad.

"He did?"

"Yeah! The way the lightning bolt blinded you made me think of Bait's glowing. He can get really bright when he tries!"

"And then I hit him with one of my own lightning spells," Callum added. "You know, I was important too."

Rayla smiled as Ezran folded his arms. "Don't try to take credit away from Bait!"

"I'm not! I'm just saying—"

 _Even now?_ Rayla thought ruefully. She was too tired to listen to them bicker. "What about Viren?"

They were silent for a while. Rayla rubbed her eyes and squinted, and was just able to catch a glimpse of Callum's troubled expression before it was replaced with one of his goofy grins. "I think he'll be okay! Probably! I mean he wasn't _moving,_ but he's probably just going to be paralysed for a while!"

"Whatever you did, he's still inside his own game," Rayla said gently, "so it won't do any permanent damage."

"Also, he was attacking us," Ezran said. "That's pretty bad."

"Thank you, Ez, for that insightful moral analysis." Callum's sarcasm, at least, seemed genuine. "Attacking people… _is bad!_ "

Ezran slumped in his seat and scowled. "I'm just saying he deserved it a little."

More than a little, Rayla would've said. He'd killed someone, and he would've killed more if he'd been able to. She shuddered. They would have to do something about him tomorrow. Maybe Rayla should stay in _The Dragon Prince_ overnight as a guard. There'd have to be a big meeting to decide what to do. Viren had to be punished, but there was everyone else in _The King's Champions_ to think about as well. They were all innocent. At least, Rayla still hoped so…

"When will the egg hatch?" Ezran said. Rayla's vision was still spotty, but she could see his small smile.

"I don't know," she said. "It sounded like he did something to the egg's code."

Callum snapped his fingers suddenly. "We can try putting it where Zym hatches in that cutscene! They're… sort of the same character, right, so maybe it will work?"

"Maybe," Ezran said. His voice shook. Bait climbed off Rayla's lap and threw himself across Ezran's knees, and he curled up round the glowtoad's body in response, hiding his face away.

"Ez?" Callum asked gently.

The only response was a sniff and a hiccup.

Rayla felt the adrenaline rush of the fight starting to fade away, and all she felt was tired. Even if they'd escaped Viren and saved _The Dragon Prince,_ Zym was still gone.

"...It's not _fair,_ " Ezran said, with a hitch in his breath that indicated suppressed sobs.

Rayla hesitated, then reached out to pat his head. "It's not," she agreed.

He relaxed a little at the touch, and then decided to snuggle up against her side. She squeaked and looked to Callum for help, but he only shrugged, mouthing, ' _What am I supposed to do?'_

"Thanks, Rayla," Ezran said. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me… Me too," she replied. There was not a lump in her throat and she was not two inches away from crying. She was _not._

"Yep!" Callum said cheerfully, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "You're not getting rid of us now. Nice try, though."

" _Callum!"_ Ezran hissed.

"...Yeah, okay. Too soon."

Embarrassingly, that was when Rayla really _did_ start crying.

Just… these stupid boys and their stupid jokes, and her being stupid and it meaning the whole world.

If only Zym could still be here, it would be perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the longest action scene I ever wrote and I'm dying.
> 
> Comments and criticism are always welcome!


	4. Chapter 4

It felt like the chase with Viren had taken hours and it ought to be morning soon. In reality, even with the time spent getting the egg in the first place, it had barely been _one_ hour.

"...Do you think we should wake everyone up?" Callum said. "I mean, it's pretty late and we might have to work tomorrow after all. But also we just nearly died, so..."

"I think this is the kind of thing you can wake people up for," Rayla said dryly. Neither of the boys had mentioned that her eyes were red and puffy from crying, for which she was grateful. Bait had licked them, for which she was… significantly less grateful.

"We should try to get the egg to hatch," Ezran announced. He was holding it now that they were safe at home and he didn't have to worry about keeping Bait safe.

The egg glowed even brighter as though in agreement.

...Maybe it was in agreement? "How much d'you think he understands in there?" she asked, knocking gently on the shell.

"I think it's supposed to be a lot," Callum said. "That's what the lore says, anyway."

Ezran nodded. "In the story, Zym comes out knowing his own name from hearing his mother say it."

He looked at the egg and his shoulders slumped.

"We should give you a different name," he said softly. "It's just as unfair to you, to make you pretend to be someone else, as it would be to replace Zym."

Rayla shifted awkwardly. _Should I not have…?_

But Ezran seemed to catch the movement out of the corner of his eye. He didn't address Rayla directly, but he added, "We're not really replacing _Zym._ It's just… getting a new person to play the part. I'll still miss him."

The egg dimmed until it shone with only a soft light.

"We can still be friends, though." Ezran held the egg close to his chest and patted it. "It's not your fault this all happened."

That got a bright glow in response and a giggle from Ezran.

Rayla smiled. The egg seemed to be more lively in here. It could've been that she just hadn't noticed during the chase, but she took that as a good sign that the little dragon would fit in just fine. "So, where do we go to hatch this egg?"

"To the Cursed Caldera," Ezran answered.

"...It's called that because it was discovered by a famous explorer, Sir Reginald Cursed?" Rayla said weakly. After the hellish night they'd been through, she _really_ did not want to encounter any more jump scares.

"Wow! You actually guessed it!" Callum said. "Although his name was Archibald and I don't think he was ever knighted."

"Oh thank heavens."

"But I should warn you that there's a terrible storm constantly raging up there," Callum continued. "You know, because sky dragons can only hatch during a storm and all."

"Yay," Rayla said flatly. It could never be _simple_ , could it?

Callum looked at her distinctly unenthusiastic expression and awkwardly cleared his throat. "On second thoughts, maybe Rayla should stay here."

She almost agreed but then she noticed the egg's glow dim a little. Was it disappointed? The wee thing had already been through a lot tonight. And what was a bit of rain between friends? "I've already come this far," she grumbled instead. "Might as well see it through."

"If you insist..."

The mountainside was not that hard to climb at first. At the bottom, the breeze was only strong enough to stir Rayla's braids. As they climbed further into the storm, though, it turned into a raging gale, until they were shouting at each other just to avoid having their words snatched away by the wind.

("IT'S OKAY, IT'S NOT ACTUALLY THAT LONG A WALK," Callum told her. "BECAUSE IT'S ONLY IN A CUTSCENE SO THEY DIDN'T COMPLETELY FLESH IT OUT. ALSO, I THINK—"

"DO YOU HAVE TO TELL ME THIS _RIGHT NOW?_ " Rayla answered.)

She pre-emptively began to use her swords as hooks to keep herself anchored in position. She'd learnt her lesson the first time she'd come into _The Dragon Prince –_ just because it wasn't a combat-oriented game didn't mean it couldn't be just as deadly in its own ways.

But she pressed on, and the rim of the caldera soon came into view.

Rayla spotted the lonely tree with its branches dancing in the wind and the moon shining brightly through its leaves even though it was approaching dawn in the rest of the game. Amongst its twisting roots was where Zym hatched in the cutscene. There was even a round little blue spot, helpfully glowing, to show them where to place the egg. Hopefully this would work, or they were out of ideas.

The egg started to dim and brighten in rapid succession. Was it excited? Maybe nervous.

Rayla used one of her swords to hook herself into the rock, just be sure she wouldn't blow away, whilst Ezran plodded slowly against the headwind to deposit the egg on the little blue spot. The winds miraculously died away. Rayla took her sword out of the rock, feeling a little silly for being so worried. She looked up to see the eye of the storm and the angry clouds circling like water in a drain.

—And spotted the tall man standing on the rim of the caldera above them, his staff raised high.

Rayla burst forward, crashing into Ezran as she snatched the egg up and hugged it to her chest. Rolling away from the blue spot, she huddled to present a low profile for the winds which had leapt up into a gale force as soon as she moved the egg from the blue spot.

She turned just in time to catch Viren shaking his head, dazed, the glow of a magic spell fading around him. He must have used a spell so that he wouldn't break himself jumping from such a height—and to destroy the egg.

Rayla wordlessly handed the egg to Ezran and pushed him into the lee of the lone tree. She drew her swords and flicked out the blades to their full length, trying to look determined but only feeling tired. " _Why?"_ she yelled over the wind. "Why can't you just leave us alone?"

Viren shook his head and muttered something that was lost to the wind. "This is for your good as well, Rayla—"

" _Fulminus!_ "

Callum's lightning spell arced out from his fingertips and struck Viren in the back. He grunted and staggered. Then his face turned into a snarl and he rounded on Callum like a cornered tiger. Not even bothering to use magic, he simply hit Callum with his staff so that he doubled over, wheezing.

Viren pressed his staff to Callum's chest and shoved him towards the edge of the cliff. Callum tried desperately to grab at his robes, but the cloth slipped from his grasp. He teetered on the edge—

Until Viren gave him one last push and Callum _fell._

Rayla's heart stopped and she choked. Her knees felt weak.

"It's okay!" She felt Ezran's warm hands on her back, just for a brief second. "Remember, it's our game, Rayla!"

It was hard to remember that beyond the shocked expression on Callum's face as he plummeted to his inevitable death below. But only temporary, she reminded herself. He would be fine in no time; it was the egg she had to protect.

If Viren was really doing this for the sake of _The King's Champions,_ then he wouldn't hurt her. He couldn't risk killing her or their game would be out of commission for good. She just had to stop him getting to the egg.

Perhaps that was why Viren wasn't using spells. He attacked and Rayla countered, batting the staff away with her swords as he tired to use it like a club. She pushed him back, and then again, and again. Her arms felt like lead weights were being added to them each time—she was a better close-combat fighter than Viren, but her style relied on speed and flexibility. He was heavier than her, and strong as she was, she was already exhausted and couldn't move from her spot in front of the egg. It got harder and harder to throw him back each time.

He seemed to know this even though Rayla tried not to show it, because his satisfied expression never slipped. Like it was just a matter of time before he won.

_Someone has to be coming,_ Rayla told herself. It rang hollow when they hadn't told anyone in _The Dragon Prince_ about what was going on, when she didn't know what had happened back in her own game. For all she knew, Viren had lied to the rest and they'd bought it—or worse, some of them had been in on it as she feared.

No one was coming to rescue them.

Rayla swallowed, thinking of the long drop down. How long would it take for Callum to respawn and climb back up to the top? Maybe with the two of them, they could overpower Viren.

And then—then what? Force him all the way back to _The King's Champions,_ find a way to make him stay there? Without letting Callum get hurt?

She might as well try to blow the mountain over.

Rayla's shoulders slumped, defeated. There wasn't—she couldn't do it. She was too tired, she wasn't strong enough to protect her friends from Viren. There was no way she could keep him from hurting the egg, or Ezran or Callum, for that length of time.

She just—

Her throat closed up tightly and she felt sick, like someone had grabbed all of her insides and was trying to force them out through her mouth.

It wasn't fair.

It wasn't _fair._ After everything—

Viren came at her again. He swung the staff in an underhand motion, and Rayla didn't have enough strength left in her arms to block it any more. He knocked her swords upwards, away, throwing her off balance. Viren recovered and pulled the staff back towards him, batting Rayla's side. He was pulling his punches but she still gasped at the force of the blow. She staggered to the right, stumbling over her feet and falling, and the way was open for Viren to attack Ezran—and the egg.

She saw the triumphant expression on his face as he strode forward. Ezran only had Bait to protect him, but Viren was already holding one hand up to shield his eyes whilst he chanted a spell under his breath. The same trick wouldn't work on him twice.

It wasn't _fair._

Ezran planted himself between Viren and the egg with a determined look on his face. Viren started to draw a rune in the air…

He was committed. Rayla hopped to her feet, not _quite_ as exhausted as she'd made it seem, and rushed forward.

Before Viren could react, she buried both of her swords in his back up to the hilts.

She couldn't see Viren's face at all. She only saw Ezran's reaction – mouth parted in surprise, eyes impossibly wide. Viren coughed wetly and sank to his knees, the magic of the rune fading away. He gurgled, trying to say something, but Rayla couldn't make out what he was trying to say over the noise of the storm.

But she could imagine the final rattle of breath, the betrayal etched on his face. She watched as Viren slumped over and lay still. Her swords gleamed red with blood through the other side of his chest, but after a few moments, his body started to dissolve. In the end, he was just code—like they all were.

As he vanished, Rayla's blades clattered to the ground, anchored by nothing. Within a minute, even the blood was gone and they looked like nothing had stained them at all. They skittered out of her reach as a sudden strong gust of wind swept over the plateau. She swayed on her feet and couldn't bring herself to take them back.

Ezran reached out a hand to her. "Rayla..."

"It was the only way," Rayla said thickly.

With Viren had gone all her hopes and dreams for _The King's Champions._ Everyone's dreams. No one would find more of the weird glitches like the sapling, no one would ever whoop when they beat Rayla and Runaan in a tag team on the final level again. Whatever popularity they'd enjoyed would be gone. Their game would be carted away, and they'd be left stranded in Game Central for years upon years upon years, always worrying that one small mistake, one error, would take even that away from them forever.

"It was all I could _do_ ," she said, and she started to cry.

* * *

Her throat hurt from sobbing by the time Callum fought his way back up to the top of the mountain. Ezran patted her back and the egg – and Bait – gave off matching soft glows.

"What happened?" Callum said.

"Viren is d-dead," she choked out.

His intake of breath was sharp. Cautiously, he approached and knelt next to her. It seemed timid, which she hated even more than—than everything. If they treated her like she was dangerous, then…

But the hesitation vanished when he wrapped his arms around her, and then Ezran followed suit a moment later. "I'm really sorry," Callum said. "It's gonna be okay."

Rayla had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from bursting into hysterical laughter. "Is it? _Is it?"_

"Yep," Callum replied firmly. "Because you're gonna stay here with us! And everyone else from your game can come too. We'll find some way to squeeze you into some cameos or, or something, I don't know." He took a deep breath. Rayla looked up to meet his eyes, and he smiled. "It's going to be different, and it's going to be hard, but… it will be okay."

She sniffed. There was something about the way he said it that made her want to believe him. "Are you allowed to go making decisions like that for everyone else?"

"Well… no," Callum admitted. "But tough cookies for them because I just did! Anyway, _Fix-It Felix Jr._ did it and Qbert isn't even from the same franchise as them!"

"I think it's a great idea," Ezran said. Bait coughed. "And so does Bait!"

"Tough… cookies?" Rayla felt her mouth twitching despite herself.

Callum pointed a finger at her accusingly. "Yes. Tough cookies. Because that is a completely normal thing that people say in normal conversation. Normally." Rayla snorted. "I'm trying to be supportive here! Don't laugh at me!"

"You're doing just fine," she said, wiping her eyes.

There was still something hollow inside her, a future missing that she'd just begun to love again. But she still had her friends here. She'd saved them, if not Zym. That counted for something, too—the warm feeling in her chest that kept expanding past the emptiness until she felt she was going to burst with it.

"I am?" Callum asked. He grinned, a rosy glow to his cheeks. "I mean yes, I am!"

"Just don't let it go to your head," Ezran said.

"Too late!"

Rayla had to laugh at them, even though she hiccuped in the middle. "We still have a dragon to hatch before this is over."

The egg seemed to like this suggestion, because it began to glow so brightly that it hurt to look at. Ezran placed it on the blue spot and stepped back as the winds died down and they were once more in the eye of the storm.

Still glowing brightly, the air around the egg began to crackle—not with electricity but with magic. Sparks the colour of Callum's magic runes burst out of the eggshell in flashes of light that made the tips of Rayla's fingers tingle. The egg shook, once, twice, and then a jagged crack like forked lightning ran down its side.

The storm abruptly faded and the egg's glow dimmed as it stopped moving. Rayla took half a step forward, wondering if something was wrong—

There was a flash of light. For a moment, all Rayla could see was blinding white. She blinked as it faded, out of reflex rather than need, as unlike the bright flash of the lightning earlier, there was nothing wrong with her eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a small dragon sitting where the egg had been a moment earlier. Twice as large as any creature contained in the egg could've been, he looked exactly like Zym—right down to the catlike way he curled his tail around his feet.

The dragon fluttered his wings experimentally. "Gosh," he said. He even sounded identical to Zym. "I have wings now! That's amazing!"

"Did you not have wings before?" Ezran said. "Inside the egg?"

The dragon tilted its head. "I wasn't inside the egg. I _was_ the egg. I'm just a video game character, you know! I didn't actually _hatch_!" He reached a clawed hand up to scratch his nose, then squinted at it for a moment before he licked it. "Haha! Tongues are _ticklish._ That's so neat!"

"I guess you like _not_ being an egg, then?" Rayla said.

"Oh, yes! Flying seems like it will be fun. I've been looking forward to it ever since you found my bonus level!" The tiny dragon shuddered suddenly. "I should've hatched as soon as you opened the door, but that nasty mage must've messed with my code or something. Gross!"

He didn't… talk like Zym. Rayla wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not.

"Anyway," the dragon said, beginning to pace a bit, "I overheard a little about what happened to your Zym. Um… I guess I'm new to all this, but losing people seems hard. I want to help!" His tail whipped around him and he paused whilst looking at Rayla's swords.

Her stomach dropped.

But then he deliberately turned away from them. "So you gotta call me Mondi! Because I'm me, and your friend is your friend." He nodded to himself. "Although I have to pretend to be him when we're playing, I suppose." His tail stopped twitching. "...How do you play a game?"

"...Let's talk about that in a bit," Callum said. "For now, I think… we've got a lot to discuss with everyone."

Rayla clenched her fists hard enough to feel her fingernails making painful grooves in the palm of her hand. She had a lot to discuss, too. To confess.

_Sorry, everyone, but I killed our own game! Just as we might be getting some interest back!_

But _The Dragon Prince_ was safe. She hoped they would accept that too.

* * *

Mondi was welcomed by the rest of _The Dragon Prince_ with a mixture of warmth, relief, and confusion. Rayla tried to hang back as Callum and Ezran told the story, but several of them insisted on shaking her hand.

She tried to be happy for them, but the last thing she wanted right then was to be _thanked_ for ending her own game. It only got when Runaan and Harrow crashed in part-way through the telling. "Rayla, thank god!" Runaan called, running over and patting her down. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Harrow caught up to them before Rayla could begin forming a reply, giving an apologetic wave to everyone else. "We were woken by the fire, and by the time we'd sorted that, we realised that you can Viren were missing..."

She flinched at the mention of Viren's name, and the cast of _The Dragon Prince_ bristled. Runaan looked from them to Rayla, confused.

But when Rayla dared to glance up at Harrow, she saw him close his eyes and let out a long, deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, they were creased with sadness. "Viren did something, didn't he?" he said softly.

Ezran nodded until Bait, sitting on top of his head, fell off. "Rayla didn't do anything wrong!"

It was all well and good to leave Callum and Ezran to explain things to the people of their own game, but to let them tell Harrow and Runaan would just be cowardice. Rayla swallowed, which did almost nothing for the dryness infecting her mouth. "Me, Callum, and Ez used to spend a lot of time exploring _The King's Champions_ ," she began. "That's how we found..."

She told the whole story in halting, uncertain snippets. Callum and Ezran insisted on chipping in with other details when they felt she wasn't giving herself enough credit, and by the end of it they were doing it totally heedless of Rayla's glares, the annoying supportive _dummies_.

When it got to the end of the story, what had happened at the top of the mountain, Rayla's voice deserted her. She opened her mouth to speak but no sound would come out.

Harrow crouched down so that he could look her in the eye. "Viren is dead, isn't he?"

"It wasn't her fault!" Ezran said, jumping between Rayla and Harrow before she could even nod.

Callum came to stand beside her with his arms folded and scowling. She thought he was trying for intimidating but Rayla could only notice the loose thread on his fingerless gloves when he did that; it probably didn't come off as well as he hoped.

Harrow didn't seem accusing. He bowed his head. "You're right. It's not her fault. I'm sorry you were forced into this, Rayla. I should have realised how far gone he was before it came to this..."

But the person she really needed to hear from was Runaan. His face was taut with pain, and for a moment Rayla's heart stopped and she nearly began to cry again—but then he reached out to take her hand. "I wish it were not so, but… you did what had to be done," he said.

_He didn't hate her._ Rayla felt some of the tension ease out of her chest and she was able to breathe again.

"We'll have a lot to arrange at home. I must break the news to everyone. Please excuse me." Harrow stood and turned to go, but paused when Rayla tried to follow him. He somehow managed a warm smile. "Not you, Rayla. Enough has happened to you already. Why don't you get some rest?"

"You can see my debut!" Mondi burst out excitedly. He'd been quiet for a while now, so perhaps he felt it was his turn for the spotlight again. Being an egg must've been _very_ boring. "I just need to learn how to breathe fire, and I can defeat all of our enemies! But not for real; it's only a game after all."

Callum scratched the back of his head. "Yeahhh, about that… I'd call you more of a… mascot character." He paused. "But you know. The _best_ mascot."

Mondi sighed, his breath coming out with a little puff of smoke. "I was afraid of that. But I guess you can't have everything in life."

"Also, storm dragons breath thunder, not fire," Ezran added.

"Oh. Well, that's cool too, I guess..."

"And they only do that when they mature, but you're kinda stuck as this size."

" _What?!"_ Mondi wailed. "Why is the _whole world_ against me?"

* * *

**One year later…**

* * *

"Shall we do rock, paper, scissors for it?" Harrow asked.

Runaan nodded. "An excellent suggestion."

"Didn't we already sort this out?" Rayla looked up from polishing her swords. "We agreed we would take turns."

"But the players are supposed to think our cameos are randomised," Harrow countered. "Therefore, it makes more sense to leave things to chance."

He had a point, but his extra broad smile and wide eyes made her suspicious. Still, Rayla begrudgingly added her fist to the circle.

"On three, then," Runaan said. "One, two..."

Since Viren's and Zym's deaths, the remnants of _The King's Champions_ had settled into their adopted game without too much fuss. It wasn't much – just a cameo really, like Harrow said: coming to help Callum, Ezran and Bait through some of their stages instead of the summon animals or rope ladders, or sometimes just waiting to say hello at the end. But the arrangement got them doing _something_ and the players always seemed happy to see them.

There was something heartwarming about that—people still loved them, even with their game long gone from the arcade. And of course, Mondi was always happy to see his 'original cast' too.

To her surprise, Rayla's rock won against… literally everyone. They all had paper and scissors. _That's… weird._

"Rayla it is, today!" Harrow clapped his hands together, still smiling suspiciously. "Run along, now. You don't want to be late."

"There's at least an hour until the arcade opens," Rayla protested, but she was shoved towards the Game Start location anyway.

She sighed. They were definitely up to something, but it was just easier to go along with it.

At least it meant Rayla would get to spend more time with Callum and Ezran today. She brightened at the thought.

That had been the hard thing about being gameless, getting used to just… having nothing to do. Well, _one_ of the hard things. With most everyone else busy during the arcade's opening hours, and all the games of course reserved for the players, there was little to do other than sit around in Central Station and play cards with Qbert. And Rayla _swore_ he cheated.

"Rayla!" Mondi started bouncing up and down as soon as he saw her. "I'm so excited!"

She patted his head, laughing as his bouncing subsided into an excited kind of vibrating instead. "Why?"

"Because—"

Bait stuck his tongue out, quick as a flash, and got Mondi right in the eye.

"Eww!" Mondi blew a smoke ring at Bait and folded his wings around himself protectively. "I was _going_ to say, because _I love my job."_

Bait snorted.

Rayla looked from one to the other. "...Right."

Bait had been acting a bit weird lately anyway.

* * *

_The Dragon Prince_ was busy that day. It was fun but tiring, and Rayla was more than ready to head off to _Sugar Rush_ to relax and watch some races by the end of it.

If only she were _allowed_ to.

"Rayla!" Mondi whined. "You're the best finder! You have to help!"

She folded her arms and scowled. "Maybe _Bait_ could help by not getting constantly _lost_ all the time."

"He has been doing it a lot recently." Ezran was not-so-subtly wringing his hands. "I'm worried..."

Rayla took one look at him and sighed. She could never resist Ezran's wee sad face, even when he wasn't actually asking anything. _Luckily for me, you only use your powers for good._

It took half an hour before they found Bait, hiding in some tiny cave, and that was only because he suddenly it up as bright as a star.

"What, did you fall asleep or something?" Callum scolded him.

Bait grumbled as he settled into his usual place in Ezran's arms, not at all apologetic.

"Let's just go," Rayla said.

Game Central was oddly dark when they got off the train, but Rayla heard whispers and shuffling feet. What—?

There was a loud bang and the lights all came on at once, making Rayla blink. Then she blinked again, taken aback by the banners and decorations strewn everywhere. Even stranger was what the banners said.

"But the one year anniversary of _The Dragon Prince_ was a few months ago?" she asked. "You guys said you didn't want to make a fuss."

" _Our_ one year anniversary is today, however," Lujanne said, seeming totally unsurprised. She stepped forward smoothly to greet Harrow with a kiss to each cheek. Since she was the oldest character in the Dragon Prince, she was their unofficial 'leader', and had probably had a hand in organising the whole thing. "Thank you for putting everything together whilst I was busy, Harrow, Runaan."

"It was nothing," Harrow said.

It didn't look like nothing to Rayla. There were decorations all over the station, as well as a huge mountain of food – cherries from _Pac-Man_ and it looked like that lady from _Fix-It Felix, Jr._ had made an edible cart cake from the _Sugar Rush_ cart-making minigame.

"You knew?" she asked Runaan.

He gave her a small smile. "We wanted it to be a nice surprise for the three of you, after everything that happened."

"I didn't tell them!" Mondi shouted suddenly. "I knew for _ages_ and I could've told them but I _didn't!_ Didn't I do good, Lujanne?"

"Mondi overheard us talking about the party _yesterday,_ " Harrow said dryly, whilst Mondi preened under Lujanne's praise for his discretion.

"That must've been so hard for him," Callum replied, equally deadpan. He paused. "Honestly I don't know why I'm being sarcastic, that would be legitimately hard for Mondi. Good job buddy."

"Is that why Bait was acting weird too?" Rayla asked. "Giving you guys time to get everything ready?"

Harrow and Runaan looked at each other and shrugged.

"Probably. Bait knows things," Ezran said sagely.

"Anyway," Lujanne continued, pulling away from Mondi, "we wanted you to know that however tragic and regrettable the circumstances..."

A hush fell over the crowd. _Zym would've loved the car cake,_ Rayla thought. Sometimes she forgot—or not quite forgot about Zym, but it faded to the back of her head and became just something that happened whilst she got on with things. But there would always be something to remind her, and it would all come rushing painfully back—like the shock of being dropped into freezing water.

Lujanne's expression was pained too, but she continued, "...We truly appreciate and value you as part of our game. So it seemed appropriate to mark the first anniversary of when we came together." She bowed her head and managed to smile a little. "May there be many more years to come."

Rayla would've given anything for Zym to be there right then, but seeing all the smiling faces, everyone who'd come out from the other games to support them lifted her spirits. Things could be better. But it could never be _bad_ to have good friends and good fun.

"Do you think they would let Bait have a whole wheel of the car cake to himself?" Ezran asked in a hushed tone. Bait was already drooling at the thought.

"If they have any mercy on us, then no, they wouldn't," Callum said. "His belching smells bad enough already."

Ezran covered Bait's ears. "Don't say that! You'll hurt his feelings!"

"Hurt his—? _Look at that face!_ He's not upset, he's _proud._ Rayla—Rayla back me up on this..."

She just shook her head, unable to stop herself from laughing despite the familiarity of their banter.

_Yes. Whatever else happened, I'm lucky to have this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And that's the ending. Bittersweet, but I like to imagine the gang has many adventures going forward :) Thank you for reading this far - I'd love to know what you think, positive or negative, and of course any constructive criticism you may have would be welcome.
> 
> Here's to season three and more of our wonderful characters in the future!


End file.
